The main health effects of the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal were that: the opioid crisis stabilized, there was a dramatic drop in drug use, HIV and Hepatitis infection rates. Specifically, HIV infection went from 104.2 new cases per million in 2000 to 4.2 million cases per million in 2015.
These reductions in violence and health issues, however, were not solely created by the decriminalization of drugs. There was a larger cultural shift that enabled these progressive changes. Specifically, the language regarding addiction changed. People stopped calling drug addicts “drogados” junkies and instead called them “people who use drugs” or “people with addiction disorders”. Additionally, the Official decriminalization of drugs made it much easier for service agencies (health, housing, psychiatry, employment... ) to effectively serve their communities.
You may be wondering, what does the decriminalization of drugs have to do with economics? Specifically, why are you talking about social and medical changes within Portugal? Knowing Portugal’s history with drugs is integral in understanding the economic benefits of the decriminalization of drugs.
Simply, sending drug addicts to rehab is much more cost effective than sending them to prison. This is because initial drug treatment is cheaper than incarceration. The costs related to incarceration are cut when one goes to a rehabilitation center because “people who are in recovery are less likely to commit expensive crimes and be arrested again”. Since the longterm health of an individual will improve if they seek treatment rather than going to prison, the “cost for the healthcare of uninsured patients is drastically reduced”. As a final factor, law enforcement and court costs will be cut because “when crime rates drop fewer arrests occur”.
If 40 percent of addicted offenders, in the United States, received treatment “there would be an estimated savings of $12.9 billion USD”. The most important comparison of the economic benefits of rehabilitating drug addicts is that the price of a three-month stint in rehab only costs $5,000. In comparison imprisoning an inmate for one year costs taxpayers an average of $31,000 per year. This is compounded by the fact that an average sentence for drug possession is 3 years. Overall, it is economically and socially more beneficial to decriminalize and reallocate spending into rehabilitation centers rather than punitive prisons.
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