Does Portugal Have The Solution To Preventing Drug Overdose Deaths? : Believe This from NPR

Drug shoppers line up out of doors of the SAOM van for a methadone cocktail and provides within the town heart of Porto, Portugal remaining spring. There are only a few overdose deaths within the nation the place drug dependancy is handled as an sickness reasonably than a criminal offense.

Picture via Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Put up /Getty Photographs

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Picture via Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Put up /Getty Photographs

Brian Mann covers the U-S opioid and fentanyl disaster for NPR. That suggests he talks to a large number of folks suffering with dependancy. Over and over again, he is heard tales of people that have succumbed to their dependancy — remaining yr 112, 000 — greater than ever in historical past. But if Mann traveled to Portugal to record on that nation’s style for coping with the opioid disaster, he heard an excessively other tale. Overdose deaths in Portugal are extraordinarily uncommon.The rustic has taken a radically other method to medication – decriminalizing small quantities and publicly investment dependancy products and services – together with websites the place folks can use medication like crack and heroin. Portugal treats dependancy as an sickness reasonably than a criminal offense. No person has to pay for dependancy care, and no person scrambles to navigate a poorly regulated restoration gadget. May Portugal’s manner assist the U-S struggle its opioid epidemic?For sponsor-free episodes of Believe This, join Believe This+ by way of Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. E mail us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode used to be produced via Connor Donevan and Megan Lim. It used to be edited via Courtney Dorning and Andrea DeLeon.

Our govt manufacturer is Sami Yenigun.