Best Portugal Advice to the World: Don’t Follow Us

Best Portugal Advice to the World: Don’t Follow Us

By Manuel Pinto Coelho

APLD, International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy, Drug Watch International

With the title Portugal’s drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons, Mendoza reported last December 26 from San Diego California to Fox News.com “part of an occasional series by The Associated Press examining the U.S. struggles in its war on drugs after four decades and $1 trillion.” (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/26/portugals-drug-policy-pays-eyes-lessons/)

As the paper in the same way as many other handles more misleading considerations about Portuguese drug policy that seriously distorts the projection of this country reality, is our duty to clarify:

1 – In Portugal, the blight that once destroyed the Casal Ventoso neighborhood is a distant memory… … These days, Casal Ventoso is an ordinary blue-collar community — mothers push baby strollers, men smoke outside cafes… … Ten years ago, the Lisbon neighborhood was a hellhole, a “drug supermarket” … … An estimated 100,000 people — an astonishing 1 percent of its population — were addicted to illegal drugs. So, like anyone with little to lose, the Portuguese took a risky leap: They decriminalized the use of all drugs in a groundbreaking law in 2000.

Being true that Casal Ventoso was demolished and so is no more the supermarket it was, other places like Cova da Moura, Mouraria, Intendente, Bairro Alto or several other populated spots of Lisbon´s historical downtown were in the meantime born replacing the former with the same users and the same dealers, sending mothers and their baby strollers back home as Casal Ventoso used to do!

As Antonio, a member of an anti-drug squad, says ”the law lowers the risk level and rises the impunity one to the dealers”. For him the maximum quantity the law allows a person to handle (ten days of individual consumption) is a good “deal” for small dealers: in order not to to risk anything the only worry they have to consider is the fact that they have to supply several times per day (Le Point, Lundi 28 Décembre 2009).

As a matter of fact there is in Portugal a growing sense of fearlessness in selling small quantities of drugs, since most police officers find it unworthy of their attention and effort.

As the renowned Portuguese judge Rui Rangel stated in the main Portuguese seminary in “Judge demolishes legislation about drugs – The Portuguese drug law that decriminalized all drugs until 10 doses personal use, induced a rise on drug traffic in the country. The perception that exists in the Portuguese courts is that this law only promotes the traffic. It is permissive, loose and represents a loss of courage (let the arms fall) in the fight against drug criminality. The problem is that the legislation approved in 2001 doesn´t consider consumption, acquisition and possession of illicit drugs as a problem. The dealer sells the 10 doses, then he picks up more drugs, goes on selling and nothing happens to him. From a criminal point of view his responsibility is zero” (Expresso, December 4, 2010).

2 – …Now, the United States, which has waged a 40-year, $1 trillion war on drugs, is looking for answers in tiny Portugal, which is reaping the benefits of what once looked like a dangerous gamble. White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske visited Portugal in September to learn about its drug reforms…

…And indeed he learned from it! Regarding with interest the outcomes and implications of Portugal´s drug decriminalization initiative, the Executive Office of President Barak Obama Drug Control Policy in a letter to a member of the International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy and Drug Watch International, Director Kerlikowske states: “… a careful review of all available data on this subject as you can see in the enclosed working paper, our analysts found that claims that decriminalization has reduced drug use and had no detrimental impact in Portugal significantly exceed the existing scientific basis. Because this conclusion largely contradicts prevailing media coverage and several policy analyses in Portugal and the United States, my staff has heavily documented the sources of the data and information contained in this working paper. Please feel free to use this document in part or in whole to help strengthen your own efforts to advance a more honest discussion of decriminalization in Portugal and of the drug policy choices with nations are grappling today.”

3 – Here’s what happened between 2000 and 2008:

— There were small increases in illicit drug use among adults, but decreases for adolescents and problem users such as drug addicts and prisoners.

False. The Portuguese 2010 Annual Report released last week (12/22/2010) registered a rise in consumption – 12% of the population used drugs at least once in their lives – “considerable” and impossible to determinate number of occasional users.

Still, regarding prevalence, it is true that the population span 13 to 19 years showed less users between 2001 and 2007. However, for those between the ages 20 to 24 there was no decrease. On the contrary – there was a 50% increase.

4 – Drug-related court cases dropped 66 percent.

False. The number of drug-related court cases in 2009 was higher than ever. The number of users convicted according to the new drug law registered a rise compared with 2008. In 1360 processes-crime related to 2000 individuals, 84% were convicted.

5 – Drug-related HIV cases dropped 75 percent. In 2002, 49 percent of people with AIDS were addicts; by 2008 that number fell to 28 percent.

False. The number of new cases of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C recorded among drug users is eight times the average found in other member states of the European Union. “Portugal keeps on being the country with the most cases of injected drug related AIDS (85 new cases per one million of citizens in 2005, while the majority of other EU countries do not exceed 5 cases per million) and the only one registering a recent increase. 36 more cases per one million of citizens were estimated in 2005 comparatively 2004, when only 30 were referred” (EMCDDA – November 2007).

“The highest HIV/AIDS mortality rates among drug users are reported for Portugal, followed by Estonia, Spain, Latvia and Italy; in most other countries the rates are low” (EMCDDA – November 2010).

6 – The number of regular users held steady at less than 3 percent of the population for marijuana and less than 0.3 percent for heroin and cocaine — figures that show decriminalization brought no surge in drug use.

False. According to a recent WHO report (http:/noticias.portugalmail.pt, 2010/12/14), drugs consumption in Portugal is increasing among 11 to 16 year-olds. Between 2001 and 2007, drug use increased 4.2%, while the percentage of people who have used drugs (at least once) in their lifetime, multiplied from 7.8% to 12%. The following statistics are reported: Cannabis from 12.4% to 17%, Cocaine from 1.3% to 2.8%, Heroine from 0.7% to 1.1% and Ecstasy from 0.7% to 1.3% (Portuguese IDTAnnual Report 2008).

“There remains a notorious growing consumption of cocaine in Portugal, although not as severe as that which is verifiable in Spain. The increase in consumption of cocaine is extremely problematic”(Wofgang Gotz, EMCDDA Director, Lisbon, May 2009).

13% of 16-year-old students already had experiences with cannabis (Portuguese IDT Annual Report 2010).

7 – The number of people treated for drug addiction rose 20 percent from 2001 to 2008.

Correct. But, we ask, can the perpetuity of a chemical dependency be considered a treatment? Can we interpret the massive 70% majority of dependents on opioid substitution programs in Portugal and the 670.000 Europeans representing about half of the estimated number (one million) of problem opioid users in all Europe now on opioid substitution programs, being in treatment? Are those an indicator of success or are they just a deluding form of social control?

8 – In Portugal more people tried drugs, but fewer ended up addicted.

False. The recent Portuguese 2010 Annual Report, released 12/22/2010 registers a 35% high regarding drug related deaths compared to 2008.The highest since 2003.

The number of deceased individuals that tested positive for drugs (314) at the Portuguese Institute of Forensic Medicine in 2007 registered a 45% increase, climbing fiercely after 2006 (216) representing the highest numbers since 2001 – roughly one death per day – reinforcing the growth of the drug trend since 2005 (Portuguese IDT – November 2008).

The number of homicides related to drug use has increased 40%. “Portugal was the only European country to show a significant increase in homicides between 2001 and 2006” (World Drug Report, 2009)

This is the painful reality of the Portuguese drug policy the world recently and insistently is inviting everyone in his own country to follow.

If we add to this complete and absurd campaign of manipulation of facts and figures, that Portuguese Government is preparing to release next year a pilot-project to distribute two new “kits”, to add to the old one that already provide junkies with fresh needles, swabs, little dishes to cook up the injectable mixture, disinfectant and condoms to avoid that young people get infected with HIV – always the main weapon of the lobby group that wishes to legalize drugs:

Kit Snif to snort cocaine and Kit Pipe for crack and cannabis users, to be used in discos and other entertainment places at a cost of half a million euros to be paid by all of us, i.e. the taxpayers.

We can only trust, as the the Associated Press article stresses that… there is no guarantee that Portugal´s approach would work in the U.S..