A Comparative Study of Iran Legislative Policy with Portugal and Canada

Public protection has become a key theme of much recent criminal justice legislation and policy aiming at the effective management of high-risk offenders. Harm reduction is a health-centered approach that seeks to reduce the health and social harms associated with drug use, without necessarily requiring the users to abstain. It is a non-judgmental response that meets users “where they are” with regard to their substance use rather than imposing a moralistic judgment on their behaviors. As such, the approach includes a broad continuum of responses, from those who promote safer substance use, to those who promote abstinence.
This article, by employing descriptive-analytical method, describes the implementation of harm reduction policy according to successful policies of Portugal and Canada. Then compares harm reduction policy between Iran and those two governments. This paper proposes that the "bill of decriminalizing from drug law and treatment of drug abuse," and its amended should be put on the agenda. Firstly, policy-makers should decriminalize the use of some low-risk drugs because relevant authorities can implement harm reduction policy with freedom of action and secondly, the behavior of all drug users should be diverted to access to drug user. Thirdly, since the age of drug users descends, thus policy-makers should be consider youth in harm reduction programs.