Five years ago, Portugal’s passage of a drug decriminalization act seemed dangerously controversial.
Photo: Foxtongue
Five years ago, Portugal decided to do something bold about its drug problems: pass a full-on decriminalization act, making the possession and use of even hard-core illicit drugs–including cocaine and heroin–a public health problem rather than a legal/criminal justice issue.
While drug dealing and trafficking still carried criminal penalties, possession and use resulted in diversion to treatment and intervention, rather than imprisonment, in most circumstances.
Decriminalization is a drug policy tactic that has been considered by other governments, but remains deeply divisive in the United States.
Portuguese officials, however, offer evidence that the legalization strategy might just be the best means of addressing at least three social problems–drug use, prison overcrowding, and poor public health– simultaneously.
In this article, published in Scientific American, a US think-tank analyzed Portuguese public health drug-related data since the decriminalization act was passed and reported the following:
“Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006….”
Beyond the benefits to public health, a US criminologist also quoted in the article noted that the decriminalization act did not–as some critics expected– cause Lisbon to become a magnet for drug-seeking tourists.
So is decriminalization a viable policy where you live? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Community Connection:
Read about other decriminalization movements in this article, Latin America Changes War on Drugs Strategy: Legalize!
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6 Comments... join the discussion!
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Thank you! Portugal just upped 100 points in my book for taking a look at the drug problem from a public health perspective. Great article, Julie. So important that Matador shares this type of info with everyone.
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Good to see a positive outcome in this. Hopefully the trend continues and will convince other places to follow suit.
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Wow, that’s great! I think it’s definitely worth it for other countries to do the research and see if they would similarly benefit from decriminalization.
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Great story! Thats pretty cool that its had such a positive impact on the country. Too bad the US will never have the cajones to implement such things.
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This is quite a radical thing to do, but one thing we should keep in mind is whether there was public discussion and support before the decision was made? and how can we use that as a model for other countries.
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