Dear Vivienne Moxham-Hall,

A friend gave me the tip to read your op-ed article on drug policy.

There is a passage in your text which I find quite strange:

“In Portugal, drugs were decriminalised in 2001. Today there is a bulk of evidence pointing to Portugal as a leader in drug reform. Not only have rates of drug use declined in almost every measured category, but Portugal also has the least amount of drug use when compared with the EU countries with more stringent criminalisation measures.”

What data do you base this on? The fact is that Portugal comes out on a quite average level when illicit drug use among young people is measured. On May 30 the fifth ESPAD report was published. ESPAD is a drug habit survey which today includes 39 countries. The same questions, the same age (16 year-olds), the same time of the year. Quite unique survey where one can compare many nations in Europe. Portugal has been involved from the beginning so one can follow the trends there over time.

I live and work in Sweden, a country known for its strict drug policy. We have criminalised drug use as such, which is quite unusual comparing with other similar nations. We have one of the oldest, maybe the oldest, drug epidemic in Europe. We have tried more or less everything one can try in drug policy. We had harm reduction in the mid-60s before the term existed. We had decriminalisation in the early 70s before the Dutch formalized it in 1976. There is more to say, but I stop there.

I think you should look at the ESPAD report and compare Sweden with Portugal. You find it here. Look at the tables at pages 87, 89, 90 and 92. Sweden is in the bottom section in all tables. Portugal is in the middle section, close to the top section on page 90 and 92.

Go to pages 134-144, where the trends in the various countries are shown. Portugal is not worst by any means, but the trend is upwards for illicit drug use. Remember that ESPAD is about teenagers age 16, actually the year you turn 16, so some can be 15 when the survey is done. The survey takes place in the spring.

It is a mystery how the story of the “success” in Portugal has travelled so far across the world. Why should an average result become something to strive for? Shouldn’t we always at least try to be excellent and sometimes we might succeed in getting close to that. Being mediocre can’t ever be an ideal.

Yours sincerely,
Per Johansson

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