As far as I remember, yeah, that's essentially what happened. At first, the government and the police saw drug addicts as criminals in the eyes of the law, and tried to go after them, which is, as far as I know, what the US and a lot of other countries do.
As a Portuguese who was alive (albeit a kid) in the 90s, I can summarize this as we didn't have enough resources (both human and monetary) to keep enforcing the U.S. drug war model. Since it wasn't working and we were reaching a critical situation (like half of Lisbon in particular was filled with drug addicts shooting heroin up their veins), we turned to the experts.
The article implies this was a decision made from the beginning of this epidemic, but it was pretty much a last resort because the other model was unsustainable for the government. Not sure if we would've adopted it if we had US' resources.
Also, just giving context here, not trying to diminish this accomplishment.
Aside from Mad World by Gary Jules and *Everything's alright" by Laura Shigihara, which have already been mentioned, I have a few off the top of my head:
Not much of a country music listener but I've really liked Townes van Zandt, namely because of a tribute album made by various members of sludge/post-metal bands like Scott Kelly, Steve von Til and John Baizley. It's more on the introspective and melancholic side but I think it's also a bit different from a lot of other recommended artists/bands on this thread.
In most games, when there's an option to play as a man or as a woman, I generally choose to play as a dude because...I'm a dude. I guess it helps to immerse myself in the game but I never really gave it much thought beyond that. But in my second playthrough, if it's something like an RPG or anything like that, I usually switch to a girl just to see different story paths, conversations, personality even.
Except for fighting games. I've been telling myself it's because I love fast, rushdown characters like Millia Rage or Cammy. I even managed to fool myself into thinking it was because I used to do the martial art they're representing, like Lidia Sobieska from Tekken. Which is technically true, they have to have a play style I like.
But along comes Granblue and I'm torn between two characters: the badass old man brawler that is Soriz and zoner archer lady Metera. And at this point, I can't lie to myself anymore and will probably play Metera because she's a woman and she's hot.
TL;DR: I like women and they're hot.
I'll chime in and suggest PC, as you can probably get them at a lower price than on PS4.
I'll add Mamoru Miyano to the list.
EDIT: Also, Jouji Nakata aka Alucard from Hellsing.
Not necessarily a song but a whole sub-genre: Eurobeat. It started with Running in the 90s and I just went from there to listening and thoroughly enjoying pretty much the whole Initial D soundtrack.
Portuguese here. Haven't had to use anything but Firefox on the IRS and Social Security websites. What are you having trouble accessing?
I think it's sub.rehab.
Apparently these are actually pretty well-known covers but I only found out a few years after:
Portugal: Grândola, Vila Morena - Zeca Afonso. Probably not a hit when it came out, as it was banned by the dictatorial regime at the time but it became the anthem of our 1974 revolution, pretty much because it was the song that the revolutionary group chose to be played on the radio station (they took control of) to mobilize their forces.
Zeca Afonso has a bunch of other well-known (and really good) songs, all sung in Portuguese but this is the one most people know by heart. It helps that it gets played every year on the anniversary of the revolution and whenever there's a protest.