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Portugal's drug policy: Treating, not punishing | The Economist Portugal's drug policy
Treating, not punishing
Aug 27th 2009 | LISBON
From The Economist print edition
The evidence from Portugal since 2001 is that decriminalisation of drug use and possession has benefits and no harmful side-effects
IN 2001 newspapers around the world carried graphic reports of addicts injecting heroin in the grimy streets of a Lisbon slum. The place was dubbed Europe?s ?most shameful neighbourhood? and its ?worst drugs ghetto?. The Times helpfully managed to find a young British backpacker sprawled comatose on a corner. This lurid coverage was prompted by a government decision to decriminalise the personal use and possession of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The police were told not to arrest anyone found taking any kind of drug.
This ?ultraliberal legislation?, said the foreign media, had set alarm bells ringing across Europe. The Portuguese were said to be fearful that holiday resorts would become dumping-grounds for drug tourists. Some conservative politicians denounced the decriminalisation as ?pure lunacy?. Plane-loads of foreign students would head for the Algarve to smoke marijuana, predicted Paulo Portas, leader of the People?s Party. Portugal, he said, was offering ?sun, beaches and any drug you like.?
Yet after all the furore, the drug law was largely forgotten by the international and Portuguese press?until earlier this year, when the Cato Institute, a libertarian American think-tank, published a study of the new policy by a lawyer, Glenn Greenwald.* In contrast to the dire consequences that critics predicted, he concluded that ?none of the nightmare scenarios? initially painted, ?from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for ?drug tourists?, has occurred.?
Treating, not punishing
Aug 27th 2009 | LISBON
From The Economist print edition
The evidence from Portugal since 2001 is that decriminalisation of drug use and possession has benefits and no harmful side-effects
IN 2001 newspapers around the world carried graphic reports of addicts injecting heroin in the grimy streets of a Lisbon slum. The place was dubbed Europe?s ?most shameful neighbourhood? and its ?worst drugs ghetto?. The Times helpfully managed to find a young British backpacker sprawled comatose on a corner. This lurid coverage was prompted by a government decision to decriminalise the personal use and possession of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The police were told not to arrest anyone found taking any kind of drug.
This ?ultraliberal legislation?, said the foreign media, had set alarm bells ringing across Europe. The Portuguese were said to be fearful that holiday resorts would become dumping-grounds for drug tourists. Some conservative politicians denounced the decriminalisation as ?pure lunacy?. Plane-loads of foreign students would head for the Algarve to smoke marijuana, predicted Paulo Portas, leader of the People?s Party. Portugal, he said, was offering ?sun, beaches and any drug you like.?
Yet after all the furore, the drug law was largely forgotten by the international and Portuguese press?until earlier this year, when the Cato Institute, a libertarian American think-tank, published a study of the new policy by a lawyer, Glenn Greenwald.* In contrast to the dire consequences that critics predicted, he concluded that ?none of the nightmare scenarios? initially painted, ?from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for ?drug tourists?, has occurred.?
