Portugal como exemplo, para variar

Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.)

The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

The question is, does the new policy work?

The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

Se a Time diz, é porque é verdade.