Drug decriminalisation in Europe may be slowing down

“HASH? WEED? Cocaine?” In central Lisbon, even your grey-haired correspondent gets the pitch. The Vale de Alcântara, a valley housing a main road alongside a park, is strewn with garbage and drug paraphernalia. Dealers and users huddle in a strip of dilapidated buildings. Nearby is a government-run facility where they can get high safely. But it is often full, and some like it better outside.

Portugal is held up as a model of drug liberalisation. In 2001 it decriminalised possession of all drugs for personal use. Selling remains illegal, but the government’s “harm-reduction” strategy softens the role of the police. Instead it offers therapy to those who want to quit and “dissuasion commissions” with a range of interventions, from fines to travel bans, to shove them in that direction. It also helps provide clean needles and tests for drug purity.