There is a huge debate in the United States right now surrounding the topic of drug decriminalization. Take marijuana as an example. Currently marijuana is illegal and there is a large group of people who think it is evil. On the other side of the aisle is a large group of people who believe that marijuana is no more evil than alcohol, and that by legalizing marijuana we can save huge amounts of money (by eliminating the “war on marijuana” and its associated costs in enforcement and prison beds) and make huge amounts of money (on taxes).

So the obvious question is, “what would happen if we decriminalized marijuana?” One way to answer that question is look for similar decriminalization efforts in other countries to see how they fared. It turns out that there has been such an effort in Portugal, as described here:

1) 5 Years After: Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results

2) More on the success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

Here is what the Portuguese program looks like:

Under the Portuguese plan, penalties for people caught dealing and trafficking drugs are unchanged; dealers are still jailed and subjected to fines depending on the crime. But people caught using or possessing small amounts—defined as the amount needed for 10 days of personal use—are brought before what’s known as a “Dissuasion Commission,” an administrative body created by the 2001 law.

Each three-person commission includes at least one lawyer or judge and one health care or social services worker. The panel has the option of recommending treatment, a small fine, or no sanction.

This program has worked. Street crimes and HIV infection rates are both down significantly.

What if we went whole hog and let companies produce and sell marijuana like they do alcohol? According to the article: “Drug legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and using drugs; no country has tried it.”

Here is another program that suggests that legalization and tolerance may be better than the criminal justice system and prison time:

Why Should We Give Homes to Winos Who Won’t Stop Drinking?

The idea is to take drunks off the streets, put them in decent public housing, and then let them drink. Why do that? Because it saves a lot of taxpayer dollars:

Providing housing for chronic alcoholics, who are still drinking, can save taxpayers more than $40,000 annually, per alcoholic, according to the study released this week in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

What these programs are indicating is that the way the U.S. is handling drugs today is not optimal either in terms of costs or outcomes. It may be beneficial to think rationally rather than punitively about illegal drugs.

Clearly we are doing something strange in the United States:

Why We Must Fix Our Prisons

The United States has by far the world’s highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world’s reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000. In addition, more than 5 million people who recently left jail remain under “correctional supervision,” which includes parole, probation, and other community sanctions. All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year.

Also:

Drug offenders, most of them passive users or minor dealers, are swamping our prisons. According to data supplied to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, those imprisoned for drug offenses rose from 10% of the inmate population to approximately 33% between 1984 and 2002. Experts estimate that this increase accounts for about half of the dramatic escalation in the total number imprisoned over that period. Yet locking up more of these offenders has done nothing to break up the power of the multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade. Nor has it brought about a reduction in the amounts of the more dangerous drugs–such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines–that are reaching our citizens.

In a nation like the United States, we should be smart enough to come up with a better solution.

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