[Pavilion #3] Presentation by Marta Ceai, Professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Academic Director for the CIEE Program in Portugal. The presentation will be followed by a faculty panel discussion. A full description of the presentation is as follows:
Portugal is often pointed out as an example of good practices when it comes to dealing with drug abuse. The well-known expression “war on drugs” is not a reality in that country. In Portugal, there is no war on drugs when it comes to use and possession for personal use (with no intention to supply). The Portuguese approach is neither punitive nor coercive,
but a comprehensive one that tackles drug abuse for what it really is: a health and social policy issue that should have the well being of the individual and the community as its main
priorities. In 2001, this new radical approach to drug policy was introduced in Portugal. Until that year, the country had a drug epidemic with more than 200 thousand people being active users, most of them heroin addicts. Faced with this problem, and the ineffectiveness of the traditional punitive approach to drugs, the government sponsored a radical and somewhat counter-intuitive approach to drug use: decriminalization. This desperate attempt to stop a public health epidemic was a fully top-down process supported by the majority of Parliament – even though some members of the more conservative parties were publicly vocal about their disagreement – and gathered a surprising acceptance by the public in the a known traditionally catholic country. Why? Because every family in Portugal had some connection with drug abuse, so it became more than a policy issue: it was foremost a personal experience.
Coffee and cookies will be served.
For more details, please contact Professor Stephanie Sarabia (ssarabia@ramapo.edu).