Portugal’s War on Drugs: Part I

Lisbon at sunset (All images belong to Sophie De Sousa McMeakin, unless otherwise stated)

Just over 20 years ago, Portugal was the heroin capital of Europe with approximately 1% of the population addicted to the drug. Today, Portugal’s drug consumption and substance-related deaths are below the EU average and the country boasts arguably one of the best health-led approaches towards drug use.

In 1974, after the fall of Salazar’s Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship, an introspective nation transformed into a country thirsty for the thrills and luxuries of other democratic European nations. However, what was not anticipated was the population’s susceptibility to addiction. The counterculture movements of the 1960s that had married drug use, mainly psychedelics, with the arts made little impact on Portuguese society, bar small bohemian communities. Therefore, when Portugal opened up in 1974, it was abruptly exposed to the West’s laissez-faire and hedonistic culture surrounding mind-altering substances. Meanwhile with the collapse of the dictatorship, soldiers returned with exotic drugs from the ex-colonies: heroin was trafficked from Pakistan and India via Mozambique arriving in Portugal with catastrophic consequences. These factors combined with a lack of knowledge about the addictive potential of hard drugs borne from years of isolation under a repressive regime, stigma and poverty created the most severe heroin addiction crisis in Europe and the highest HIV rate in the EU. Although the crisis was especially hard-hitting in economically deprived areas, serious drug addiction wheedled its way into every stratum of society, affecting students, lawyers, factory workers and the homeless alike. In a short period of time, the domestic situation became a public health emergency.

By 2001, the Portuguese government decided a radical change was necessary: the decriminalisation of all drugs. With this policy, Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalise the personal consumption, acquisition and possession of all illegal drugs, adopting a health-centred approach to drug users. This so-called ‘Portuguese Drug Strategy’ eradicated the distinction between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ drugs and aimed to reduce HIV/AIDS infection in the country, 50% of which was estimated to derive from unsafe needle use. At the heart of the country’s drug policy was Portuguese physician, Dr João Goulão, incumbent Portuguese Drugs and Alcohol National Coordinator. Dr Goulão explained that a key factor for the policy’s support in Portugal was pervasiveness of heroin addiction and the rise of HIV. In particular, the presence of heroin addiction in middle-class families acted as a catalyst for change, forcing the government to recognise addiction as a social epidemic. The high visibility of drug-use in public spaces also conflicted with Portugal’s socially conservative, Catholic mores – an attitude crystallised by decades under the Salazar dictatorship – and served to embolden the sense that a comprehensive policy tackling addiction was needed.

It is important here to distinguish between ‘decriminalisation’ and ‘legalisation’. Decriminalisation is the act of removing all criminal sanctions for an individual in possession of drugs for personal use. In Portugal, this means less than ten days-worth of any prohibited narcotic. As long as the user is not engaging in trafficking, manufacturing or supplying drugs, they will be treated as a patient rather than a criminal. Drug misdemeanours are forwarded to an administrative panel that may impose warnings or fines on the user and suggest courses for treatment. To be concise, it is still illegal to use illicit drugs in Portugal, but within the legal limits, it is not a crime.

One of the central arguments for decriminalisation is that the old punitive approach appeared to be magnifying the drug crisis, further marginalising drug users and creating boundaries to treatment and social reintegration. Instead, under the decriminalisation policy, law enforcement resources are concentrated on holding dealers accountable, targeting those that profit from substance abuse rather than those that suffer from it. Before 2001, the authorities were thinly stretched trying to apprehend heroin smugglers, who often operated in small gangs or individually, while also punishing users. One may suggest that the authorities simply needed better funding to perform both tasks more effectively, but this fails to take into account the mechanism of supply and demand. Within the limitations of the Portuguese economy, it made more sense to reduce demand by focusing on minimising the potential for new addicts, and treating those already impacted. This serves as a more sustainable model for decreasing addiction in society over time, as well as the associated ailments and public disorder.

Of course, it would be naïve to suggest that substance abuse is not linked with crime; the cost of illegal drugs alone can lead individuals to commit crimes in order to sustain their habit. However, the philosophy underpinning the drug policy seeks to view this type of crime as a by-product of an illness, namely addiction, and a consequence of marginalising vulnerable groups. Addiction is contextualised as a complex societal issue that is best improved by focusing on its root causes: socioeconomic deprivation, a lack of drug education, poor mental health, as well as the activity of suppliers themselves. The Portuguese Drug Policy frames addiction within the scope of human rights, relating it to the equal right to access healthcare and non-discriminatory treatment before justice. It is therefore less concerned with the debate that drug use is a private choice, or that criminalisation infringes on individual freedom, and more with egalitarian ideals with regards to healthcare and harm reduction. This being said, the question remains: how effective has decriminalisation been?