Portugal decriminalised drug use/possession years ago and started treating drug use as a health concern rather than a criminal offence, and now has one of the lowest percentages of drugs deaths per year (3 per million people) in Europe. Addicts are now referred to treatment programmes rather than charged for a criminal offence. "Legal high" use is virtually non-existent in Portugal, while such substances like synthetic cannabis and "bath salts" cause great physical and psychological harm and even deaths in the UK.
No-one ever choses to become addicted to a substance. Drug use is often a symptom of something that goes a lot deeper than merely taking drugs for "a buzz" . People who suffer from mental illness or childhood abuse, domestic abuse etc sometimes end up turning to drugs as a means of escaping reality.