Comparison of current drug control policies, UK vs Portugal

Comparison of current drug control policies, UK vs Portugal
Drugs refer to mood-altering, psychoactive substances, taken without concern for intended
usage, health, and personal well-being. Misuse refers to using drugs without prescription for the
effects of use (often ‘highs’) and abuse is taking drugs without regard to its intended medical
usage, eg. abuse of ‘over the counter’ analgesics/opioids (FDA, NIDA, 2019).
Illegal recreational drug use is a societal problem and hence needs control. In the UK (2020/21),
there were over 200,000 police recorded crimes associated with drugs, which equates to a 20%
increase from the previous year. It is currently under researched as to the impact of Covid-19 on
the nature of crimes. In contrast, Portugal was the first country in the world to totally
decriminalise personal possession and personal use of the same drugs, that are criminalised in the
UK (Bajekal, 2018). In Portugal, the possession of drugs is treated as an illegal act but the same
is not resulted in any criminal proceedings if the amount consumed is less than the average user.
In the same time-frame as the UK, Portugal has seen a 62% drop in drug-related fatality and
virtually zero police reported crime for personal possession and usage. There is almost no change
in the consumption of drugs in the country of UK as 9.4% of population between the age group
of young to adults have consumed the drugs which has gradually increased at a much higher rate
of 20.3% among the young adults. (PNRCAD, 2013/2020).
This essay will highlight the current legislation to control the misuse and abuse of prohibited
prescription and recreational drugs in society. It will also compare and contrast the direction of
current legislation, to control the misuse and abuse of prohibited drugs in the UK (England and
Wales) and Portugal. The main aim is to assess the target of control (rehabilitation or criminalise
with punishment for possession) and the preferential efficacy of different approaches (if
apparent). It is important to note, that UK, refers to England and Wales. Scotland diverges from

England in that it already follows a health orientated route, illegal drug use, is a public health
issue and the way forward is to rehabilitate and help keep then meaningfully within society,
rather than criminalising and locking them away in prison . These drug users, are often
hopelessly addicted to their illegal habit and punitive punishment, rather than help, usually only
makes matters worse in the long-term Portugal has decriminalized the consumption of drugs in
2000 adopting an advanced approach towards the health of the public in general public interest
rather than the priority of public whereas UK decriminalised the consumption of drugs in 1971
which came into effect in 1973. The Misuse of Drugs Act and Psychoactive Drugs Act 2016
deals with the offences of Drugs in UK whereas there is no such specific law in Portugal to
prevent the offences of drugs. The decriminalisation of drugs in Portugal has not specifically
increased the consumption of illicit drugs but has decreased the harms in relation to drugs
whereas the country of UK has restricted the possession, consumption and production of drugs
by imposing more strict provisions in order to prevent drug offences. Although the country of
UK has more strict provisions and laws than Portugal in relation to drugs policies, the
consumption of drugs intake is more in UK in comparison to Portugal. (SAC, 2019).
One concern is the changing nature of crime, such as the distribution of drugs using young
vulnerable people, via ‘County Lines’ (Parliament, UK., 2021). County lines is a form of
organised crime which involves the exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults and to
some extent is an alternative option to shop lifting to finance a drug habit. Suitable victims are
coerced with gifts from gangs to work for them. The gangs use ‘untraceable’ mobile phones to
control the sale, transport, and delivery of drugs, outside of local areas. This form of distribution
offers anonymity to the criminals and protects the drug dealers from law enforcement officers, at
the expense of the disposable young, naïve ‘mules’ /drug runners’ (NCA, 2018).

Another issue is drug classification, as laws/sentencing varies as to how dangerous to health and
or addiction a specific drug is. There are three basic classification of drugs, A, B, C, with ‘A’ the
most dangerous to health and risk of creating / satisfying addiction, through to ‘C’, the least
dangerous to health and risk of creating / satisfying addiction. The penalties currently differ in
terms of supply and demand. Supply is selling, delivery and production, whereas demand, refers
to personal buying, possession, and usage. Penalties currently stand as: Class A, possession 7
years in prison maximum, supply life in prison, down to Class C, passion up to 2 years in prison
and supply up 10 14 years in prison. (Gov.UK, 2022). Whereas in Portugal, the crime of drug
used are subjected to the imprisonment of three months along with the fine up to 30 days. If the
use gets increased by the stated quantity, then in such cases the imprisonment gets increased up
to the period of one year and fine up to 120 days.(Ximene, Oliveira and Lameira, 2021).
Furthermore, drug crime extracts a huge cost on society. Research suggests that the cost to the
government and society in the UK is about £9.4billion a year(NHS). These costs include
shoplifting to supply a drug habit, police, the justice system, the prison system, national health,
and rehabilitation projects. However, as incident rates of drug abuse are on the increase as
measured by the police, this suggests that current, in-place policies are neither working nor ‘fit
for purpose’. It also appears that the police are manipulating their drug-related crime figures, by
only registering shop theft if it exceeds £250, however, this hides rather than deals with a
problem. According to Misuse of Drug Act, 1971 and Psycoactive Substances Act 2016 has
made the production, supply and consumption of drugs illegal in order to protect the health and
safety of the people of the country by enabling effective measures for the prevention of drug
offences.(TNS, 2020).