PORTUGAL'S UNCONVENTIONAL SOLUTION
WHILE POLITICIANS AND ACADEMICS AROUND THE WORLD ARE STRUGGLING TO FIND THE BEST WAY TO MANAGE THE GROWING OPIOID CRISIS, ONE COUNTRY BEING LAUDED FOR ITS SUCCESS IS PORTUGAL.
In the 1990s, Portugal faced not only one of the highest prevalence rates for addiction in Europe but also reported among the highest amount of overdose deaths.
At the time, Lisbon was known as the ‘heroin capital' of Europe.
Since then, the country has gone from an estimated 100,000 heroin users to 25,000 and now boasts the lowest rate of drug-related deaths in Western Europe. How did they get there?
In response to the crisis, the country's government put together a committee of experts including psychologists, doctors, lawyers and social activists to dive into the problem. The outcome was a recommendation to end the criminalization of drugs, regardless of the drug. In 2001, their new drug policy changed the country. Alcina Lo, director of Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies in Lisboa, Portugal, said the focus of this new policy was to take the focus off of justice and towards a clinical and social approach. It means drug users are no longer considered criminals but patients. Anyone who is intercepted by authorities and does not exceed the amount permitted by law for personal use is sent to an administrative council.
Health and social professionals then evaluate the individual's situation with a goal of trying to combat their addiction. Individuals caught with bigger amounts of a drug still go to trial.
Lo said the Portuguese approach on drugs has widely been considered a model of best practices.
“Due to the fact that we recognize drug use as a health issue and drug addiction as a multi-factorial health disorder condition, which needs to be treated and not punished,” Lo said.
According to a report ‘Drug Decimalization in Portugal,' by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) in New York, while several other countries have also had successful experiences with decriminalization — including Czech Republic, Spain and the Netherlands — Portugal provides the most well-documented example.
The council says since Portugal's law was put in place:
• Overdose deaths decreased by more than 80 per cent.
• Prevalence rate of people who use drugs that account for new HIV/AIDS diagnoses fell from 52 to six per cent.
• Incarceration for drug offenses decreased by more than 40 per cent.