I am Portuguese and I grew up in those hard times in Portugal. Plenty of friens of mine and school collegues fell in the drug addiction. Some of them died of overdose or traffic accidents because the addiction. Some of them got to jail and was very hard seeing old school friends in jail. Those bad times are unforgettable.

My fear duing those times was that my young nieces and nephews could fell in that trap. I have 12 nieces and nephews and not a single one fell in that “hard life”. Thank god our politicians wre smart enough to understand that making a crime to consume drugs only created more problems.

I hope the world can learn with the Portuguese experience and start to face this problem more apropriate. The Portuguese have proud of having one of lowest drug addictions in these days. We have a safe country, less crime and less jail imprisioned persons. My friends died but theirs deaths are remembered by the living ones as heroes of one diabolic war. The war against the drug addiction.

The USA should follow the Portuguese project. It is sad how many young lives are imprisined, families destroyed, youngsters with theirs lives smashed.

Best regards from a Portuguese who lived his youth in those crazy days.