How Portugal’s Drug Laws Succeeded and What the United States Can Learn from Them
In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, many countries experienced deadly opioid epidemics that rampaged through their societies.[1] Portugal, which is situated along the Iberian Peninsula and serves as a gateway for drugs into Europe, experienced a severe heroin addiction and suffered from the highest rate of HIV infection in the entire European Union.[2] At the same time, the United States was experiencing its own epidemic, mostly fueled by the misuse of prescription opioids as well as an increase in the use of illicit drugs like heroin – “[s]ince 2000, the annual number of overdose deaths from any kind of drug in the U.S. has multiplied nearly six times over, rising from 17,500 to over 106,000 people in 2002.”[3] Over the past twenty years, Portugal and the U.S. have taken vastly different approaches to their country’s drug problems, and today, the two countries could not look more different. While the United States is dealing with alarmingly high rates of fentanyl overdoses and deaths, Portugal averages less than 80 drug related deaths per year.[4] How did Portugal succeed at combating its drug problem and what can the U.S. learn from its policies?
While the U.S. has enacted tough drug laws and relied on the criminal justice system to punish drug offenders, Portugal approaches its drug addiction problem as a public health crisis and relies on free and accessible treatment programs to help drug users. In 2001, Portugal passed Law 30/200 which decriminalized possession and “consumption of all drugs for personal use, including the purchase and possession of 10-day supplies,”[5] but maintained criminal liability for drug trafficking and possession of more than a 10-day supply of drugs.[6] As a result of this law, if someone in Portugal is caught with drugs, they are required to appear before the Commission for the Discussion of Drug Abuse, a panel comprised of social workers, medical professionals, and drug experts. The panel has sole discretion over the offender, and most often requires treatment in a drug facility, which are free and widely available throughout the country.[7] Furthermore, Portugal’s police help drug users get connected with treatment and services instead of simply monitoring and punishing drug offenders.
In contrast to Portugal, the U.S. has long taken a punitive approach to drug addiction and has implemented harsh criminal penalties on drug offenders. Beginning in the 1960’s, the U.S. began researching the safety and effectiveness of certain drugs.[8] However, most research was halted when drugs became a symbol of rebellion and social upheaval.[9] In 1971, President Richard Nixon named drug abuse “public enemy number one” and drastically increased the size and funding of federal drug control agencies and advocated for stricter sentencing guidelines.[10] In 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared a “war on drugs'' and established a “zero tolerance” policy for drug users.[11] Since then, the U.S. has mostly maintained harsh criminal penalties for drug offenders which has increased its prison population dramatically.[12] In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that despite punitive drug policies, the U.S. maintains one of the highest levels of drug use compared to other developed countries.[13]
While some argue that if the U.S. decriminalized drugs, it would increase drug use and lead to even worse problems, that did not happen in Portugal. While Portugal experienced a small increase in drug use after its 2001 decriminalization laws, the effect was transient and most drug experimentation did not lead to addiction.[14] Additionally, crime and drug trafficking increased in the five years after Portugal decriminalized drugs, but both subsequently fell. Another ramification of Portugal’s decriminalization laws was the decrease in Portugal’s prison population. If the U.S. shrank incarceration time for drug offenses, or eliminated it entirely, it would similarly diminish its prison population and free up funds that could be used for treatment and public health responses. As one professor stated, “using the funds to treat people, instead of incarcerating them, could go a long way to addressing the harms of illicit drug use in the U.S.”[15] In this regard, the U.S. should move closer to Portugal’s model of decriminalization to decrease the number of drug related deaths and help more people get the treatment they need.
Tamar Leff is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLVII.
[1] Juana Summers, Portugal’s Approach to the Opioid Epidemic is a Flashpoint in U.S. Fentanyl Debate, NPR (Feb. 13, 2024), https://www.npr.org/2024/02/13/1231221308/portugals-approach-to-the-opioid-epidemic-is-a-flashpoint-in-u-s-fentanyl-debate#:~:text=Portugal%20cut%20its%20number%20of,to%20solve%20America's%20fentanyl%20crisis.
[2] Naina Bajekal, Want to Win the War on Drugs? Portugal Might Have the Answer, TIME (Aug. 1, 2018), https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/.
[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Overdose Deaths In 2021 Increased Half as Much as in 2020 – But Are Still Up 15% (May 11, 2022), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/202205.htm.
[4] See Summers, supra note 1.
[5] Anthony Faiola & Catarina Fernandes Martins, Once Hailed for Decriminalizing Drugs, Portugal is Now Having Doubts, Washington Post (July 7, 2023), https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/.
[6] Maria Moriera et al., Drug Policy Profiles: Portugal 11, European Monitoring Ctr. for Drugs and Drug Addiction (2011), https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/642/PolicyProfile_Portugal_WEB_Final_289201.pdf.
[7] Lauren Gallagher, Should the United States Move Towards Portugal’s Decriminalization of Drugs?, 22, U. Miami Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 208, 217 ( 2015).
[8] Id. at 209-10.
[9] Id. at 210.
[10] Richard Nixon Foundation, Public Enemy Number One: A Pragmatic Approach to America’s Drug Problem (Jun. 29, 2016), https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2016/06/26404/
[11] Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Radio Address to the Nation on Economic Growth and the War on Drugs (Oct. 8, 1988), https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/radio-address-nation-economic-growth-and-war-drugs.
[12]The Impact of the War on Drugs on U.S. Incarceration, Human Rights Watch Report, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-03.htm.
[13] See US leads world in substance abuse, WHO finds, Reuters (July 1, 2008), https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN01254783/.
[14] See Austin Frakt, Pointers From Portugal on Adduction and Drug War, N.Y. Times (Oct. 15, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/upshot/portugal-drug-legalization-treatment.html.
[15] Id. at 3.
This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.