‘Treat drugs as a health issue rather than a crime’
A police boss says the manner in which drug use is treated as a health issue in Portugal rather than as a criminal matter, could be copied in the UK.
North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has been on an “inspirational” fact-finding trip to Lisbon, where he met leaders of a number of drug agencies and also spoke to addicts on the street.
He witnessed how instead of drug abusers being put through the criminal justice system, the majority are offered health advice on how to kick the habit.
Other methods of dealing with addicts include giving them a sanction which can lead to a small fine if breached.
Mr Jones, a former police inspector, spent four days filming in the Portuguese capital with a TV crew from the BBC Wales current affairs programme Week In Week Out. The cost of the trip was met by the BBC.
Last year Mr Jones sparked controversy soon after his election as commissioner when he called for the decriminalisation of all drugs to be considered.
He argued that if substances were legalised it would take drugs out of the control of criminals and allow addicts to receive more support.
Mr Jones said: “We spent four days filming out there and I very much took the lead in doing the interviews.
“My involvement was really a direct result of the problems being experienced by people in the Rhosddu area of Wrex- ham, where drug users’ needles are being found on the streets.
“I first met Brendan Hughes from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction to get his views and then went out onto the streets of a district called Lumiar in Lisbon with a third-sector, or voluntary, organisation which distributes clean equipment to problematic drug users and also does some counselling work with them.
“We also accompanied officers of the Portuguese equivalent of our National Crime Agency to a waste incinerator and watched the destruction of three tons of controlled drugs.
“Drugs are still unlawful in Portugal but this showed that decriminalisation doesn’t mean legalisation and that a lot of police resources are being targeted at supply rather than use.
“We then looked at how drug users are actually dealt with.
“If a police officer stops someone in the street who has cannabis on them, if they have less than 10 days’ supply they are referred to what’s called a dissuasion commission which will then decide how to deal with them.
“If they are identified as a non-problematical or recreational user, as is mostly the case with cannabis and with 90 per cent of drug users in most countries, they give them information on the dangers of taking drugs and also a suspended sanction which means no action is taken against them.
“If they come back before the commission they might get a small fine which is basically the same as a speeding fine.”
He added: “It’s not a judicial but an administrative matter and they don’t get a criminal record.
“The five or 10 per cent who are problematical drug users get some sort of therapeutic support.”