Portugal’s experience in removing criminal penalties for drug use almost 25 years ago offers a real-world case study. Can compassion and public health succeed where criminalisation has failed? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Superintendent Rui Filipe Lourenço Costa, who is with the Lisbon Metropolitan Command of Portugal’s Public Security Police; and Dr Nuno Capaz, sociologist with the Lisbon Dissuasion Commission. They were both speakers at the Drug Policy Summit Malaysia on the 4-5 November 2025.
