Fight Against Drugs In Portugal

While Portugal worked to improve and increase treatment options for drug users, the situation still became problematic. Nearly 1% of the population was already addicted to heroin by 1999 and HIV related deaths were some of the highest in the European Union (Azeem). One year earlier, the Commission for the Natioanl Strategy to Fight against Drugs was mandated by the government to create a report and guidelines to bolster the fight against drugs and drug addiction, primarily in the interests of prevention, treatment, social reinsertion, training, research, risk reduction and supply control. The commission consisted of nine members; five renowned drug experts and researchers, two ministers of health and justice, the Assistant Minister of the Prime Minister in charge of the drug policy, and an internationally recognized independent researcher with no previous experience in drug policy to chair the …show more content…
The Dissuasion Commissions were designed to replace the state 's criminal courts by way of placing the commissions under the Ministry of Health. The commissions seek to inform and dissuade users from using but can also refer people willing to go treatment or even go as far as imposing civil sanctions such as fines that can incrementally go up as the user reoffends. This overall shift was important to view the drug users as patients, not criminals. This method was not new in Portugal, however. Previously to 2001, law implied imprisonment up to three years, though it was rarely used. When a drug user was stopped by police, most of the time it was to try and gather information on the dealer network. If a user gets caught again, they would receive a court date and then sentenced to a fine, community service, or a final choice that would make the user decide between prison or treatment. Any time a user was apprehended, it was marked on their personal records as a drug