Switzerland couldn't stop drug users. So it started supporting them.

In the 20 years since Portugal decriminalized possession of personal amounts of all drugs, deaths from HIV and overdoses declined and more people take advantage of expanded drug treatment programs. Treating the country's addiction-related problems as a health concern rather than a crime has been embraced domestically and copied by other places, including most recently in the U.S. by Oregon. Portugal's experience serves in part as a cautionary tale about tailoring policies to local conditions and following through on ideals with clear, measurable approaches. Copying the program outright is not simple.

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Alamosa, Colorado, gives police officers the option of sending people to substance abuse treatment rather than straight into the criminal justice system. Used in non-violent cases, the diversion program is based on a harm-reduction model that uses a health-care approach rather than a punitive approach to address the underlying issues when a crime is committed. Some police officers object to the program's mission, but proponents say that forcing compliance would be counterproductive.

Designated harm reduction centers can reduce overdoses and infections among those suffering from addiction. Facilities that operate as safe spaces can also offer resources such as treatment or housing, such as at the Planterose DropIn Center in Bordeaux and the SOS SleepIn Center in Paris. The strategy of helping addicts first use safely, and then rebuild social connections, has helped France to reduce its rate of HIV infection.

Drug-assisted treatment has reduced rates of new substance abuse cases and HIV infections in Switzerland. With the implementation of an innovative drug policy program in 1994, Swiss doctors began to treat those suffering with chronic substance abuse with heroin-assisted treatment (HAT). The program benefitted from positive results in early trials and has encouraged the implementation of similar programs in other countries.

Hand Up Health Services is a syringe services program that provides clean needles to addicts, also known as “needles exchange” programs. The program is only one of two in New Hampshire. While there's a lot of stigma behind these types of programs, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions shows that “ people who inject drugs are five times more likely to enter treatment if they connect with an SSP.”

Heroin purchased on the street is now commonly laced with fentanyl, a powerful narcotic, which has a much smaller lethal dose than heroin. Tino Fuentes spends his time in a place called "the hole" in the Bronx educating users about the dangers of fentanyl and testing their supply for this lethal drug with "fentanyl strips".

By addressing drug addiction as a medical—rather than criminal—issue, Portugal has been able to reduce drug use as well as deaths caused by drugs. Strategies implemented include decriminalization, increased access to treatment, changes in prescribing patterns related to opioids, and ‘dissuasion’ courts.

Prevention Point Philadelphia provides needle-exchange, HIV and Hepatitis C testing, counseling groups, mailboxes, and Naloxone (an opioid overdose reversal drug) training to 18,000 people. The center also connects addicts to addiction services and other social programs if they want to seek recovery.

In Plymouth County, a program called Project Outreach is tackling the opioid epidemic by partnering with rehabilitation facilities and law enforcement. They are targeting people when they are still in the hospital after an overdose and offering them treatment options. If a person refuses treatment, a police officer and a rehabilitation specialist will still visit them within 24 hours to give the person more information and attempt to convince them to seek treatment, even if that doesn't mean going into an inpatient treatment facility.

If juveniles in the Hinds County youth-court system, whose families tend to have limited resources, cannot get sustained, meaningful help at the center, they do not have many other options. But, thanks to a lawsuit on behalf of the juveniles in the facility, the county is starting to address the lack of mental-health services - whether in facilities or starting at home with the family.