[bismuthsalt]

To note, in 2001 Portugal has decriminalized possession of small quantities of drugs, for first time offenders. Drug trafficking is still just as illegal as ever. There are no cannabis shops or pervasive cannabis advertisement, as opposed to US liberal states, for example CO or WA.

> But Portugal’s experience is often misunderstood. Although it decriminalized the use of all illicit drugs in small amounts in 2001, including heroin and cocaine, that’s different from making them legal. And it did not decriminalize drug trafficking, which would typically involve larger quantities.

> Portugal’s law removed incarceration, but people caught possessing or using illicit drugs may be penalized by regional panels made up of social workers, medical professionals and drug experts. The panels can refer people to drug treatment programs, hand out fines or impose community service.

> A lot of the benefits over the years from Portugal’s policy shift have come not from decriminalization per se, but in the expansion of substance-use disorder treatment. Such a move might bring the most tangible benefit to the United States.

[rmrfstar]

Take a look at the US per-capita incarceration rate over time [1]. Since the war on drugs began, it has grown 5x over what appears to have been a long-term steady state.

The war on drugs is a make-work jobs program for people who can't build anything useful. Relative to skill, these are well-paying stable jobs.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/U....