Reversal of Fortune

I still keep my hat in the harm reduction arena, even though I've left St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction. These days, I work at the Washington Heights Corner Project. We had a bit of excitement there this last Tuesday when one of the participants overdosed. Fortunately, staff there were on hand, and well-trained. Narcan was administered, and the overdose reversed. I did get a chance to throw in some well known acupoints for revival, like Heart 9 and Du 26, but clearly, without the Narcan, that wouldn't have helped too much. During the time Narcan was being administered, another staffer called 911. Medics came, the participant revived, and he was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
I relate this not because I want to report the sordid details of an almost drug overdose, but because of the state of mind of the person after. Perhaps an hour later, the participant returned to the Corner Project to thank staff for saving his life. However, as we talked, he remarked that his life, "...was fucked anyway..." and that the only reason he was staying alive was for, "...my mom, and my schizophrenic twin." He wondered aloud why he ought stay alive, as he has three felony trials coming up, and that he's probably "going away" (i.e. upstate prison) anyway.
So, there's the crux of it. Some people out there get hooked on heroin (or other drugs) perhaps to party, but there's a large percentage of the population that's looking to run away from their lives; whose lives are marked by real suffering, and a percentage of the population that's looking for any kind of surcease from their suffering, even to the point of not being careful about how many bags of dope they're shooting.
Which brings us to a very pertinent question: Does a war on drugs that emphasizes punishment really do anything positive? Not as far as I can see. These people are already punished far, far more than any judicial system can mete out. Really, there has to be a better way.
And, in Europe, perhaps there is. In 2000, tiny Portugal took the radical step of decriminalizing ALL drugs; dope, blow, weed, smack, speed. You name it, they decriminalized it. Drugs are still illegal, but users are not punished with jail time. To quote an article in Time, "The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground, and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment - so why not give drug addicts health services instead?"
Ten years on and the addiction rate in Portugal has been halved. New HIV infections fell by 17%, and, with the money saved from punishment, more treatment has been offered.
Compare with the United States, which has long championed a no-tolerance enforcement oriented policy. $74 billion dollars will be spent this year on drug enforcement, yet we lead the world in drug consumption. Part of why there's such ungodly violence in Mexico just to the south is because of America's voracious drug appetite.
This may be changing. In various municipalities and jurisdictions in the U.S., treatment, rather than jail time is starting to be offered, with much the same results as in Portugal.
During the age of exploration, Portugal led the way, sailing into then uncharted waters. Now, in the 21st century, Portugal has again set sail where few others were willing to. They may again show the world the way to a more prosperous future.