The Crisis That Demanded a New Approach
By the late 1990s, Portugal was in the grip of one of the worst drug crises in Europe. An estimated 100,000 people -- roughly one percent of the population -- were addicted to heroin. The country had the highest rate of drug-related AIDS in the European Union, with people who injected drugs accounting for 52 percent of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2000 (1,430 of 2,758 cases). Overdose deaths were climbing, open drug scenes had become entrenched in Lisbon and Porto, and the criminal justice system was overwhelmed. Nearly every family in the country had been touched by the crisis in some way.
The Portuguese government recognized that decades of criminalization had failed to stem the epidemic. In 1998, a nine-member expert commission -- the Commission for a National Drug Strategy -- was convened to develop a comprehensive new approach. The commission, which included psychiatrists, sociologists, legal scholars, and public health experts, concluded that drug use should be treated primarily as a public health issue rather than a criminal one.
The 2001 Law
On July 1, 2001, Law 30/2000 (enacted through Decree-Law 130-A/2001) came into effect, making Portugal the first country in the world to decriminalize the personal use and possession of all illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, cannabis, and methamphetamine. The law drew a critical distinction: decriminalization, not legalization. Drug trafficking, production, and distribution remained criminal offenses carrying significant penalties. What changed was the treatment of people caught using or possessing small quantities (defined as up to a ten-day personal supply) of any drug.
Under the new framework, when police encounter an individual using or possessing drugs for personal use, the substance is confiscated and the person is referred to a local Comissao para a Dissuasao da Toxicodependencia (Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, or CDT). These three-person panels -- typically composed of a legal professional, a social worker, and a health professional -- evaluate each case individually. The commissions can impose administrative sanctions (such as fines, community service, or restrictions on visiting certain locations), but their primary function is to connect individuals with treatment, social services, and other support. For first-time offenders without signs of addiction, proceedings are typically suspended with no further consequences.