Brazil’s Drug Czar: Let’s Look at Portugal’s Experience with Decriminalization

In yesterday’s Brazilian daily, O Globo, Pedro Abramovay, the drug czar of the new Brazilian administration, said that Portugal’s experience with drug decriminalization should be considered as an alternative to Brazil’s current anti‐​narcotics policy. This comes on top of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral’s call for drug legalization and of former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s criticism, along with other prominent Latin Americans, of drug prohibition. By officially weighing in on the side of harm reduction, Latin America’s giant can have a significant effect on the debate over this hemisphere’s drug war.