NYT is full of shit, as usually. Under the so-called "Communism" drug use and posession was legal (ate least in Poland) - only selling and buying was not. This, I suppose, had something to do with a more logical than the US-crap legal theory that only actions are punishable (possession is not an action).
In any case, cops did very little to curb drug use per se, you could get busted only for manufacturing or distributing. Ditto for prostituion - pimping was illegal but sex-for-money was not.
Another issue - Poland had one of the most progressive rape laws, even before rape shield laws were introduced in the US. Rape was defined as a crime agains liberty not a 'sex crime' which rendered the sexual conduct of the victim irrelevant (at least in theory, for 'she was a slut' defense was used by many lawyers anyway).
So the NYT hacks lecturing about the 'repressive' nature of sex and drug laws in Eastern Europe is yet another example of their sloppy journalism.
wojtek