In July 2001, the government of Portugal brought in a law that said the possession or use of drugs was no longer a criminal offence. The law decriminalized even the so-called “dangerous drugs” such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.
Portugal has not made the possession and use of narcotics legal; drug-related activities on the personal level are no longer criminal offences although drug trafficking still is and is prosecuted vigorously.
Drug Abuse Treatment rather than Incarceration
The Open Society Foundations non-profit organization released a study of Portugal’s drug policy in August 2011. The 52-page report notes: “Instead of languishing in prison cells, drug dependent individuals in Portugal now receive effective treatment and compassionate programs that integrate them back into society…police officers are now free to focus on intercepting large-scale trafficking and uncovering international networks of smugglers. As a result, public safety has increased.”
Users in Portugal who are found in possession of a 10-day or less supply of a drug face what in other countries might be viewed as a driving offence. The government’s drug strategy documents describe this as a “humanistic” approach.
Drugs Users Diverted from Prison
Writing an opinion piece in Al Jazeera (November 2011) journalist and health policy analyst Helen Redmond notes that, “Portuguese drug policy experts confronted the fact that prison stigmatizes people, teaches criminal survival skills and makes social reintegration difficult. And putting people behind bars didn’t decrease drug use.”
An April 2009 article in Time Magazine reports that, “Under Portugal’s new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker, and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.”
In addition to treatment programs, the panels may recommend community service, restrictions on travel, fines, and an order to stay away from certain places. Helen Redmond says people rarely refuse the treatment option when it’s offered.
Has Portugal’s Experiment with Legalizing Drugs Worked?
In an April 2009 Cato Institute report lawyer and writer Glenn Greenwald examined the Portuguese experience. He is quoted by Time as saying: “Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success:”
- At 10 percent Portugal now has the lowest lifetime rate of marijuana use in Europe (in Canada it’s 44 percent);
- Lifetime heroin use among teenagers has fallen from 2.5% to 1.8%, while deaths from heroin and similar drugs have been halved;
- HIV infections, often caused by sharing dirty needles, dropped 17 percent between 1999 and 2003, with the diagnosis of new cases among drug addicts falling to 2,000 a year;
- The Observer newspaper in the U.K. reported in September 2010 that, “Deaths of street users from accidental overdoses also appear to have declined, as – anecdotal evidence strongly suggests – has petty crime associated with addicts who were stealing to maintain their habits. Recent surveys in schools also suggest an overall decrease in drug experimentation;"
- The number of people using alternative and less harmful substances as a supervised treatment to get off hard drugs has increased from 6,000 to almost 15,000 since decriminalization;
- The number of people receiving drug-addiction treatment jumped from 23,500 in 1998 to 35,000 in 2010; and,
- An estimated $525 million has been removed from the illegal drug market.
There has been a small increase in drug use among adults. Helen Redmond claims this is not significant and adds that, “What decriminalization shows is that the majority of people aren’t interested in injecting potent narcotics or stimulants into their veins and many of those who do want treatment.”
Sources
“Drug Policy in Portugal.” Artur Domos?awski, Open Society Foundations, June 2011.
“Portugal and the Drug War.” Helen Redmond, Al Jazeera, November 23, 2011.
“Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?” Maia Szalavitz, Time, April 26, 2009.
“Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies.” Glenn Greenwald, Cato Institute, April 2, 2009.
“What Britain Could Learn from Portugal’s Drugs Policy.” Peter Beaumont, The Observer, September 5, 2010.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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