Drugs and Society: Ambivalences and the Perspectives of the Portuguese Decriminalization Policy

Abstract

This paper aims to present a general perspective on the relationship between drugs and society, and, at the same time, to develop an analysis of the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal. In this way, methodologically, it is based on both a review of the literature about that subject and an investigation of the primary sources of the Portuguese drug policy. Among the results found out, it can be highlighting the following sample: 1) the prohibitionist policy on drugs is one of the cases that most reveals ambivalence when it is considered the production of social rules; 2) the so-called drug problem is not and never has been a police problem, except in the sense that the police are themselves the problem -it is, rather, a problem of lack of knowledge and wrong policy approach; 3) the prohibitionist drug policies have failed; 4) Portugal is an example of a well-implemented drug decriminalization policy. Conclusively, it is affirmed, for instance, that the decriminalization is a vital step in the right direction for drug policy reform, but it is just that -a step. In order to fully mitigate the harms caused by ineffective and dangerous punitive responses to drugs, governments must ultimately regulate illicit drugs, from production through to distribution.