The drug policy Portugal was enacted in 2001, and is legally effective from July 2001. The new law maintains the status of illegality by using or owning any drug for personal use without authorization. However, the offense was altered from the criminal, with possible imprisonment, to administrative punishment if the amount held was no more than a ten-day supply of the substance.
In April 2009, the Cato Institute published the White Paper on "decriminalization" of drugs in Portugal, paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project Data on the use of heroin from children aged 13-16 from EMCDDA used to claim that "decriminalization" has no adverse effects on drug use levels. However, drug-related pathologies - such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths from drug use - have dropped dramatically. In 1999, Portugal had the highest HIV rates among injecting drug users in the European Union. The number of newly diagnosed HIV cases among drug users has dropped to 13.4 cases per million in 2009 but is still high above the European average of 2.85 cases per million. There are 2,000 new cases each year, in a country of 10 million people. 45% of reported HIV cases of HIV recorded in 1997 came from drug users IV, so targeting of drug use was seen as an effective means of HIV prevention. The number of heroin users was estimated between 50,000 and 100,000 in the late 1990s. This led to the adoption of the National Strategy to Combat Medicines in 1999. The large expansion of harm reduction efforts, doubling the investment of public funds in drug treatment and prevention services, and changing the legal framework that deals with small drug offenses are a key element of the policy drive.
Video Drug policy of Portugal
Hazard reduction
The needle exchange program, "Say NO! To a used syringe," is a national syringe exchange program that has been going on since October 1993, involving about 2,500 pharmacies across Portugal. It is run by the National Commission for the Resistance of AIDS - formed by the Ministry of Health and the National Association of Pharmacies - a non-governmental organization representing the majority of Portuguese pharmacies. All drug users can exchange used needles at pharmaceutical counters across the country. They get a kit with clean syringes, condoms, rubbing alcohol and a motivational written message for AIDS prevention and addiction treatment. From 1994 to 1999, pharmacies delivered about 3 million syringes each year.
Some projects with low thresholds started after 1999, especially during the 2003-2005 period, in which the explorers team has promoted safe injection practices and provided needles and syringes on the road. Many of these projects are still running.
At the start of the program, media campaigns were launched by television, radio and the press, and posters were placed in discos and bars to draw the target population to drug-related issues, particularly HIV transmission through needle division.
The goal of the project has been threefold: To reduce the frequency of sharing needles and syringes, to change the behavior of other IDUs who create negative attitudes among the population at large, and to change attitudes toward IDUs in the general population to facilitate addiction prevention and treatment.
Maps Drug policy of Portugal
Expand drug treatments
In 1987, Centro das Taipas in Lisbon was created, an agency specializing in the treatment of drug addicts. The center consists of consulting services, day centers and patient detoxification units. This facility is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, and is the first in a network of centers specializing in treating drug addiction that now covers the whole country.
Health care for drug users in Portugal is organized primarily through the network of general care services for dark substance dependence, under the Institute of Drugs and Addiction Drugs, and the Department of Health. In addition to public services, certification and protocols between NGOs and other public or private care services ensure broad access to quality controlled services that include multiple treatment modalities. The public services provided are free of charge and accessible to all drug users seeking care.
There are 73 special care facilities (public and private certified therapy community), 14 detoxification units, 70 public outpatient facilities and 13 accredited centers. Portugal is divided into 18 districts. There is full coverage of outpatient drug treatment in all but four districts (not covered districts located in the north of the country: Viana do Castelo, BraganÃÆ'§a, Viseu and Guarda).
Substitution care
Substitution care is currently widely available in Portugal, through public services such as specialized care centers, health centers, hospitals and pharmacies as well as NGOs and nonprofit organizations.
The Portuguese substitution program began in 1977 in Oporto. CEPD/North (Center for the Study of Drug Prevention/North), using methadone as a substitute substitute, was the only unit that used opioid substitution until 1992. However, an increasing number of drug addicts (including "explosions" in the early 1990s) the growth of AIDS and hepatitis C among these populations, led to a change of attitude. After 1992, the methadone substitution program extended to several CAT (Help Center for drug addicts). Overall, the program is a medium or high threshold. With the exception of occasional activities in the slums of Lisbon, there is no true threshold program (risk reduction and hazards) prior to 2001.
From 2000 to 2008, the number of people in Portugal who received substitution care increased from 6040 to 25,808 (24 312 in 2007), 75% of whom were in care of methadone maintenance. The remaining patients received high doses of buprenorphine treatment.
Buprenorphine has been available since 1999, and then also a combination of buprenorphine/naloxone.
Provisions of Law 183/2001 Article 44.1 and Decisions 15/93 Article 15.1-3 establish that methadone treatment may be initiated by a treatment center while buprenorphine treatment may be initiated by medical doctors, specialists and care centers. From 2004, there was also administration of buprenorphine in pharmacies.
After care and social reintegration of drug users in Portugal is governed through three major programs targeting different regions of Portugal (Vida Emprego Programa, Quadro Reinserir Program and PIDDAC incentives for reintegration). The three programs fund various initiatives and projects that support drug users through training, work support and/or housing opportunities.
Monitor drug treatment
National monitoring monitoring systems are being developed but not yet implemented in all areas. National routine statistics from outpatient centers on client substitutions are available (for clients in methadone and buprenorphine programs).
Legal and regulatory
In July 2001, the new law retained the status of illegality by using or possessing any drug for personal use without authorization. The offense was changed from a criminal, with possible imprisonment, to administrative punishment if the amount held was no more than a ten-day supply of the substance. This is in line with the de facto Portuguese drug policy prior to reform. Drug addicts are then targeted aggressively with therapy or community services rather than fines or waivers. Even if there is no criminal penalty, this change does not legalize drug use in Portugal. Ownership is still prohibited by Portuguese law, and criminal penalties still apply to farmers, traders and drug dealers. Nevertheless, the law is still associated with nearly a 50% reduction in confidence and imprisonment of drug traffickers from 2001 to 2015.
Rule
Individuals found to have a small amount of drugs issued a call. The drugs were confiscated, and the suspect was interviewed by the "Commission for Rejection of Drug Addiction" (ComissÃÆ'Âμes para DissuasÃÆ'Â o o da ToxicodependÃÆ'ªncia - CDT). These commissions consist of three people: A social worker, a psychiatrist, and a lawyer. The exemption commission has powers comparable to the arbitration committee, but is limited to cases involving the use of drugs or the possession of small amounts of drugs. There is one CDT in each of the 18 districts in Portugal.
The committees have various sanctions available to them when deciding to use drugs. These include:
- Fines, ranging from EUR25 to EUR150. These figures are based on Portugal's minimum wage of around EUR485 (Banco de Portugal, 2001) and translated into lost working hours.
- Suspension of the right to practice if the user has a licensed profession (eg medical doctors, taxi drivers) and may harm others or belong to someone.
- Prohibition of visiting certain places (eg specific clubbing places).
- Prohibition to associate with others who are specific.
- Foreign travel ban.
- Requirements to report periodically to committees.
- Withdrawal of the right to carry weapons.
- Confiscation of personal items.
- Termination of subsidies or benefits received by a person from a public agency.
If the person is addicted to drugs, they can be treated in a drug rehabilitation facility or given community service, if the insubordination committee finds it better to serve the purpose of keeping the offender out of trouble. The committee can not mandate mandatory treatment, although its orientation is to encourage addicts to enter and stay in care. The Committee has explicit powers to suspend conditional sanctions for voluntary entry into care. If the offender is not addicted to drugs, or does not want to be subject to care or community service, he or she may be fined.
Law enforcement
Every year, the Portuguese law enforcement agency seized several tons of cocaine, with a record number of more than 34.5 tonnes confiscated in 2006. Regular increases in the amount of seized cannabis resins can also be observed over the past few years, recently. between 2008 (61 tons) and 2009 (23 tons).
Observation
There was little reliable information about drug use, injecting behavior or addiction treatment in Portugal before 2001, when a general population survey began. Prior to that, there was an indicator of lifetime prevalence among youth, collected as part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), and some other (less reliable) data available through EMCDDA.
A thorough review of how various attempts have been made is not done. Thus, the causal effect between these strategic efforts and developments can not be determined with certainty. Nevertheless, there are statistical indicators showing the following correlations between drug strategies and the following developments, from July 2001 to 2007:
- Improved maintenance upgrades (about 60% increase in 2012.)
- New HIV diagnosis reductions among drug users by 17% and a general 90% reduction in drug-related HIV infection
- Reduction of drug-related deaths, although this decline has decreased in subsequent years. The number of drug-related deaths is now almost at the same level as before the Drugs strategy was implemented. However, this can be accounted for by improvements in measurement practices, which include the doubling of toxicology autopsies currently underway, which means that more drug-related deaths are likely to be recorded.
- The reported lifetime usage of "all drugs" increased from 7.8% to 12%, lifetime cannabis use increased from 7.6% to 11.7%, cocaine use more than doubled, from 0, 9% to 1.9%, ecstasy almost doubled from 0.7% to 1.3%, and heroin increased from 0.7% to 1.1% It has been suggested that this effect may be related to the straightforwardness of the people interviewed , which may tend to answer more honestly because of the reduction in stigma associated with using drugs. However, during the same period, the use of heroin and marijuana also increased in Spain and Italy, where drugs for personal use were decriminalized many years earlier than in Portugal while the use of Cannabis and heroin decreased throughout Western Europe. The increased drug use observed among adults in Portugal is no greater than that seen in nearby countries that do not change their drug laws.
- Drug use among adolescents (13-15 years) and "problem" users declines.
- The criminal justice burden of criminal justice decreases.
- The falling street values ​​of most drugs, some significant
- The number of drug-related deaths has been reduced from 131 in 2001 to 20 in 2008. In 2012, the number of drug-related deaths in Portugal reached 3 per million, compared with the EU average of 17.3 per million.
- The murder rate increased from 1.13 per 100,000 in 2000 to 1.76 in 2007, then dropped to 0.96 by 2015
Cannabis legal status in Portugal
Consumption and ownership
In Portugal, the use of marijuana recreation is prohibited by law; also drug use has not been officially recognized (there are debates and legislators have submitted a bill in the Portuguese Parliament). Portugal signed all UN conventions on narcotics and psychotropic substances to date. With the 2001 Decriminalization Bill, consumers are now regarded as patients and not as criminals (having an amount normally used for ten days of personal use rather than punishable crime) but repression persists. One can be sent to the committee of defiance and talk or have to pay a fee. According to the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, the use of illegal drugs among Portuguese adolescents declined after 2001, and 45 percent of the country's heroin addicts seek medical care. But policy critics, such as the Association for Portuguese-Free Drugs, say the country's overall drug consumption has actually increased by 4.2 percent since 2001 and claims the benefits of decriminalization are being "over-egged."
Cultivation and distribution
The planting of cannabis, even on a small scale grown at home for personal use only, can be prosecuted legally. However, a large number of unknown small-scale home enthusiasts grow crops with a high degree of confidentiality because of the legal punishment they can face if sued, and because of the potential for social stigma as well. In neighboring Spain, the cultivation of small-scale cannabis plants for personal use alone, is tolerated by the authorities and there are many shops growing across the country that sell their products physically and online. In 2003 another update to "Portuguese drug law" brought the criminalization of possession of cannabis seeds, except certified hemp seed industry. This law makes the purchase of marijuana seeds from a legally and transparently legal online marijuana seed store based in other EU member states, such as neighboring Spain or the Netherlands, unlawful transactions when done by the Portuguese population. Provision of seeds and tools to produce and consume marijuana is also illegal in the country. Production and distribution of hemp products is legal but regulated. There are a small number of flax stores in Portugal and flax products are legal.
See also
- JoÃÆ'Â £ o Castel-Branco GoulÃÆ'Â £ o
- Drug liberalization
- Drug policy from the Netherlands
References
External links
- EMCDDA: Overview of drug treatment: Portugal
- Medicinal Decrimination in Portugal: Lessons for Creating a Fair and Successful Drug Policy
- PGDL: Law 30/2000 (in Portuguese)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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