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Comment by lagadu | Hacker News Reader

The most notorious large-scale, well studied example of complete decriminalization, Portugal, shows the opposite to be true[0].

[0] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-decr...

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That's not true. Usage increased[0,1].

- Reported lifetime use of "all illicit drugs" increased from 7.8% to 12%, lifetime use of cannabis increased from 7.6% to 11.7%, cocaine use more than doubled, from 0.9% to 1.9%, ecstasy nearly doubled from 0.7% to 1.3%, and heroin increased from 0.7% to 1.1%

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20110725093536/http://www.idt.pt...

Lifetime usage is a different metric than "repeated usage", people can be more curious about it and try but not necessarily stick to using them. Even more when you have policies in place for education and harm reduction.

You're right[0] but it looks like it depends on age group[1,2].

[0] https://kek.gg/i/6vgYNF.png

[1] https://kek.gg/i/7-w6PD.png

[2] https://kek.gg/i/3Jn4G6.png

> people can be more curious about it and try but not necessarily stick to using them

Yeah, it's not like they are addictive or anything.

Addiction isn't binary. Serious addiction takes long periods of sustained use. Source: I have done a lot of drugs.

Addiction isn't that simple either. Some people become addicted rapidly, others not so much. I've known people that quickly fell down the rabbit hole, others that just quit one day and never looked back, and others who have replaced one addiction for another, sometimes for the better, other times for the worst.

That only shows more people trying drugs out, it doesn't show a total drugs consumed amount (by weight/dosage or similar volume metrics) increase.

Does "lifetime use" mean "percentage of people who ever tried it"? If so, I can totally see that. When stuff is legal, more people are going to try it.

However, using it once or a few times is nowhere near being addicted. And all the other bullet points in your source [0] look pretty great:

- Increased uptake of treatment

- Reduction in new HIV diagnoses amongst drug users

- Reduction in drug related deaths

- Drug use among adolescents (13-15 yrs) and "problematic" users declined

- Decreased street value of most illicit drugs, some significantly

'lifetime use' could have also increased due to people not being afraid to admit past use after decriminalization. Was there a control for that?

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