Drugs are still illegal and dealers and traffickers are still put in prison. People as user are brought to specific court called "Discussion Panels." Repeated users are given various forms of treatment. Recreation users can also have community service and fines.

Never work in USA though since the Police work with the Healthcare system and so if a offender stops going to treatment at their doctor's office the office calls the Police and the Police give notice to the user. They also give clean needles (could happen in certain states) and crack pipes (never).

There is definitly something there that could help in US but I can't imagine in my lifetime anything even close to this happening across the country. Personally I think we do focus on users more then dealers for police action and I wish we could get to a point where we can stop the neighborhood dealers working in almost every neighborhood in my city.

> Drugs are still illegal and dealers and traffickers are still put in prison.

You are correct, but there are a few nuances. An important one is that methadone started being provided to treat heroin addiction. Providing a pharmacological-grade opiate to make the addict's life bearable was an important shift in mentality. It also worked really well in solving the actual social problems caused by hard street drugs.

I tell you this from first-person observation. I grew up in Portugal and have several friends from the generation before mine, which was the one strongly affected by rampant heroin addiction.

> Never work in USA though since the Police work with the Healthcare system [...]

To my European ears this sounds extra-creepy. Are people in the US ok with this sort of thing overall?

On a side note: Portugal is the most religious country in the EU. More than 80% of the population identify as catholic. Drug decriminalization was achieved by subtle political action, not as a result of overwhelming public opinion. Portugal is in no way more liberal than the US. So maybe there's some hope for rational policy.

Another side note: this "subtle action" holds to this day. My guess is that most Portuguese citizens are not aware of the extent of decriminalization. I have had several Portuguese people look at me in disbelief when I tell them that it is no longer a crime to consume any drug in Portugal, including heroin and cocaine. The New York Times talks about drug decriminalization in Portugal more than the Portuguese press does. I suspect this is somewhat intentional.

Methadone is available in the US. It's controversial here, not least because recipients have to take their dose at a clinic, in front of staff, to ensure the methadone isn't being sold or used in incorrect doses. There are lots of NIMBY fears related to the clinics, as many people don't want recovering addicts in their neighborhood everyday. So clinics are not well distributed, and treatment isn't free.

I often watch "Cops" and shows like that. What always gets me is when they pull over cars coming from a "known drug house", then arrest the passengers.

If they know it's a drug house, then why not shut it down instead of arresting an endless stream of customers?

It just feeds my inner (morbidly obese) cynic. I have a sneaking suspicion that these drug laws are about more than preventing harm.

> They also give clean needles (could happen in certain states) and crack pipes (never).

Both crack pipes AND needles are given out in Canada. Not sure why you think crack would be treated differently? Harm reduction is harm reduction, I doubt they are selective about which drugs are used.

Although Canada is progressive and even has safe heroin injection sites in Vancouver staffed with nurses. I just read an article saying that it's now coming to other provinces because it was successful in reducing the spread of diseases and overdoses. Plus we are legalizing marijuana.

Not sure about the US harm reduction policies though, they are known for some silly drug policies.