Hacker News Reader

I'm not a big fan of Portugal's drug policy. You can buy drugs and take drugs, but not deal them? So you still have much of the crime associated with distribution.

I'd like to see drug use legalized (not "decriminalized") in the US, and I'd also like to see distribution handled by regulated retailers, so potency and quality are uniform.

View on HN

The primary purpose isn't to fight organised crime. It's to create treatment opportunities for the people using the drugs.

Decrease the demand and the rest of the system will decrease on its own.

The article doesn't give any indication there was a decrease in drug use:

> While drug-related death, incarceration and infection rates plummeted, the country still had to deal with the health complications of long-term problematic drug use.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com