DRUG SCENE IN PORTUGAL
Instructor: Radim Slaný
Student: Ana Sofia Pires Reis da Fonseca

¢Mouse Party
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¢http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/drugs/mouse.html
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¢Universidade do Utah –Genetic Science Learning Center

CONCEPT OF DRUG
¢Any substance that voluntarily introduced in the body, causes psychological changes and can
generate dependency or not (WHO);
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¢Chemical that affects psychological and physiological functions of living organisms and can be
used in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases if used in certain doses and according
to specific management strategy, but it can also damage health and cause death if used otherwise,
willingly or inadvertently (Alexandra Oliveira);
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¢What a community conventionally as a drug substance and while one substance not be called drug, in
fact it is not drug (D. Comas);

¢There are different psychoactive substances:
—With different pharmacological properties
—Different types of uses
—Different types of consumers
—With different expectations symbolic
—Consuming in different contexts
—In different historical and socio cultural
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¢Definition difficulty:
—different meanings depending on the perspective suited for understanding
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¢There is no single definition:
¢Drug = drug
¢Drugs = poison
¢Drug = drug abuse
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¢A drug is not only a compound with pharmacological properties.
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¢Its effects also depend on what it represents
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¢Expectations symbolic

¢The effects of drugs depend on three factors:
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—Dose, presentation and purity;
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—The objective conditions of ingestion;
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—Expectations of the subject;
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¢Expectation symbolic or symbolic efficiency

¢Different meanings / types of uses:
—Religious;
—Medical;
—Playful;
—Illegal / stigmatizing.
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¢Use and Abuse
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¢Addiction:
—Tolerance;
—Withdrawal Syndrome.

THE MOST USED ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCES IN PORTUGAL
¢Cannabis;
¢Heroin - more common among the prison population and causing more deaths;
¢Cocaine;
¢Ecstasy;
¢Amphetamines.
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¢ According to the report of Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction (IDT). , between 2001 and 2007,
"national studies show a moderate increase in consumption in the Portuguese population and a
decrease in the level of school populations and prison population."
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SMUGGLING IN PORTUGAL
¢Portugal is victim of its geography;
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¢Portugal remains in the international drug route (sometimes the seizures are of drugs that in
reality are for other countries);
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¢Most of the drug that enters Portugal is produced in the Rif mountains in Morocco (second largest
producer of hashish - that trade generates profits of 11 billion dollars per year and is the
sustenance d about 800 thousand people);
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¢So Spain and Portugal are the doors of drugs into Europe, mainly Moroccan drug;
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¢The drugs produced in South America, also on a large scale, also provide considerable input by
Portugal through the great west coast we have;
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¢But Portugal has lost importance in recent years as a "gateway" in Europe for drug trafficking in
South America through West African countries.
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DRUG CRIMINALITY
¢Distinction between the different actors in drug traffic according to the position they occupy in
the structure and type of drug that is the subject of traffic:
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—Traditional mail;
—Mail with own autonomy;
—Business men of traffic;
—Reseller average amounts;
—Street reseller.
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—(Fernando Mendes)

¢Criminal trajectories:
—Toxic dependent / Delinquent;
—Drug-crime experts;
—Delinquent / Toxic dependent;
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—(Cândido da Agra and Ana Paula Matos)
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¢Principal Crimes associated with drugs:
—Crimes against the property;
—Crimes of forgery;
—Crimes against people;
—Crimes against honor;
—Crimes of common danger;
—Crimes on the road;
—Crimes against public peace;
—Crimes against authority;
—Laundering and other crimes related.

INTERVENTION
¢Intervention programs oriented for the abstinence:
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—Objective:
¢Total abstinence;
¢Detoxification programs;
¢Replacement programs:
¢Ex: methadone program (the most used in Portugal);
¢Integrated model.

¢Risk reduction programs:
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—Risk reduction and harm minimization:
¢set of measures that aim to limit the negative effects of drug use;
¢"Admittedly," drug use to protect public health and consumer health.
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—Alternative models:
¢Moral  / criminal;
¢From disease.
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—Key features:
¢Pragmatism;
¢Humanism;
¢Proximity.

—Emergence in Europe:
¢80, Holland, Junkiebond;
¢90's, UK, Liverpool.
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—Portugal:
¢Needle exchange program, beginning in 1993;
¢1999: National Strategy to Combat Drugs;
¢Decree Law n º 183/2001.
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—Critically;
—Promotes easy access to services;
—Reduce the stigma associated with consumption;
—Covers a variety of risk behaviors associated;
—Effects of drug use on a continuum:
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—Risk Maximum ----------------------- Risk zero = abstinence

FOR THE CURIOUS
¢The business of drug
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¢http://natgeotv.com/pt/o-negocio-da-droga

BIBLIOGRAPHY
¢Cannabis é a droga mais consumida em Portugal [Electronic Version]. Visão. Acessed in: 28,
September, 2012, in: http://visao.sapo.pt/cannabis-e-a-droga-mais-consumida-em-portugal=f583569
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¢Portugal perde importância para tráfico de droga sul-americana [Electronic Version] Correio da
Manhã. Acessed in: 29, September, 2012, in:
http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/ultima-hora/portugal-perde-importancia-para-trafico-de-d
roga-sul-americana
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¢Portugal na rota internacional do tráfico de droga. [Electronic Version]. Jornal de Notícias.
Acessed in: 29, September, 2012, in:
http://www.jn.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=1739939
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¢Geografia torna Portugal vulnerável ao tráfico de droga. [Electronic Version]. Jornal de Notícias.
Acessed in: 30, September, 2012, in:
http://www.jn.pt/PaginaInicial/Sociedade/Interior.aspx?content_id=1854253
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¢Costa, C. and Leal, J. (2004). A Criminalidade Associada à Droga. Acessed in September 29 of 2012
in website of Institute of Drugs and Toxicodependence:
http://www.idt.pt/PT/Investigacao/Documents/EstrategiaNacional/criminalidade.pdf
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