Domosławski A. Drug policy in Portugal: the benefits of decriminalising drug use. Warsaw: Open Society Foundations; 2011. Cruz O. Unproblematic illicit drug use: drug use management strategies in a Portuguese sample. J Drug problems. 2015;45(2):133–50. doi.org/10.1177/0022042614559842. On February 22, 2008, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called on the United States to legalize drugs to prevent the majority of violent killings in Honduras. Honduras is used by cocaine traffickers as a transit point between Colombia and the United States. Honduras, with a population of 7 million people affected, an average of 8 to 10 murders per day, about 70% of which are attributable to this international drug trade. The same problem occurs in Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Mexico, according to Zelaya.
[92] Portugal`s policies—and Goulão`s role as drug czar—managed to survive seven conservative and progressive governments. Some critics have said that drug cultivation in Portugal is now too permissive, with data showing that more people have experimented with drugs since 2001. But, while some politicians are pushing for a return to a more American war on drugs, the policy is holding firm — in part because the general public supports decriminalization and a health-centered approach. “These social movements take time,” Goulão said. “The fact that this happened on a broad front in a conservative society like ours had some implications.” If the heroin epidemic had only affected Portugal`s lower or racialized minorities and not the middle or upper classes, he doubted that the debate on drugs, drug addiction and harm reduction would have taken the same form. “There was a time when you couldn`t find a single Portuguese family that wasn`t affected. Every family had its addicts or addicts. It was universal in a way that society felt: “We have to do something.” The PDPM is inextricably linked to its socio-historical context. Contrary to what has been observed in other countries – where the debate on decriminalisation has been linked to the increasing prevalence of cannabis use and some normalisation of its use among young people [18] – the political debate in Portugal has been driven by concerns about the psychosocial vulnerability of high-risk users, whose long drug journeys have highlighted signs of stigma and social exclusion. have.
Problem heroin use was the second highest in Europe in 2000 [41], and although Portugal has lost its importance, it remains among the countries with the highest proportion of high-risk opioids (5.2 per 1000 of the adult population in 2015) [19]. Given that drug use and/or possession for personal use is a criminal offence in at least 67 countries, it is time for countries to take a bold step towards decriminalization. He also referred patients to Lopes` methadone program in Porto and found that some responded well. But Porto was on the other side of the country. He wanted to try methadone for his patients, but the Department of Health had not yet approved it. To get around this problem, Pereira would sometimes ask a nurse to slip methadone into the trunk of her car. While there is still debate about the policy and how easily it could be applied to other countries, it is clear that health workers on the ground in Portugal feel better equipped to help drug users. Fonseca was surprised and moved by her commitment to people who were “largely forgotten by the rest of society.” This is despite austerity measures introduced two years after Portugal`s 2010 financial crisis, when the government merged the 1,700 employees of its autonomous medicines agency with its national health service. Although Fonseca says the centres still lack adequate funding, two government-sponsored outreach teams – made up of psychologists, social workers and nurses – continue to travel every day to find addicts and give them the treatment they need. “The teams were going to the most dangerous parts of Lisbon and building real relationships,” he says. According to the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008, article 364 of the Ecuadorian State does not consider drug use a crime, but only a health problem. [88] Since June 2013, the National Medicines Agency (CONSEP) has published a table listing the maximum levels worn by persons to be considered legal possession and that person as not a drug dealer.
[88] [89] [90] “CONSEP established at its last General Assembly that the following quantities are considered maximum amounts for users: 10 grams of marijuana or hashish, 4 grams of opiates, 100 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine, 0.020 milligrams of LSD and 80 milligrams of methamphetamine or MDMA.” [91] On January 1, 1999, an amendment to the Criminal Code entered into force, which was necessary to align Czech drug legislation with the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, criminalizing possession of “larger than small quantities” also for personal use (art.