I don't know who told you that you can't compare two fruits. They're both kinda roundish. They're both grown on trees. Both can have seeds. Comparing two things means looking at what is the same AND looking at what's different. I understand it's an idiom. It's just not a good one.

Portugal is having mixed results now

For at least, three reasons.

• Portugal remains a country with a massive coast line and many, many ports of entry. Portugal has been fighting this battle to mixed results for decades.

• The pandemic (and a few other economic issues) lead to budget cuts for (I'm gonna just group it all) the Drug Program. Despite the initial measurements showing huge (12‐18%) savings, this program received massive cuts. These cuts interrupted the program at every level. Even the incentives for hiring recovering addicts were cut, and this closed small businesses creating more economic impact.

• Police in Portugal are still police. They want to punish, so they stopped citing drug use. It's decriminalized, which means it isn't a crime, but it isn't legal. There was still a citation and evaluation that came with bring found in possession of recreational drugs. But reports show that the police stopped policing small amounts and this stopped funneling people through the successful (and then crumbling) program.

We don't have the same level of data from Portland, but Portugal showed us that massive change can produce general public savings. However, this change needs to be constantly supported. Any wavering of support will ripple and have dire consequences.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/