In 2001, Portugal decriminalized heroin, cocaine and cannabis. It remains a crime to profit from the sale or distribution of illegal drugs, but the user was not criminalized for possession. If a person is found with less than a 10-day supply, they must meet a three-person Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, usually made up of a lawyer, a doctor and a social worker. The commission will recommend treatment, a minor fine or, as in most cases, no penalty at all.  

In 1990, one per cent of the Portuguese population was addicted to heroin. Portugal now has the lowest addiction rate of illegal drugs in all of Europe. After 14 decriminalized years, overall rates of drug use, drug addiction, drug overdose, HIV and accidental death have all gone down.

Who can honestly say that they don't use drugs? I'm not necessarily talking about illegal drugs, like marijuana or psychedelics. Alcohol is a drug. Nicotine is a drug. Caffeine is a drug. Aspirin is a drug. Many kids are on Adderall and many parents [and grandparents ;) ] take Viagra. There are drugs to help us stay awake, drugs to help us fall asleep, drugs that heal our pain and cure illnesses. You can't watch television without seeing tons of commercials for drugs. Some drugs have been around for thousands of years while new ones are being discovered and created all the time these days. And yet most people I talk to don't see themselves as drug users.

General cargo vessel MUNZUR was intercepted by Italian police on December 2 in Tyrrhenian sea northeast of Pantelleria island, near Sicily, on a suspicion of drug trafficking.

A huge quantity of hashish was found, some 11 tons divided into 500 parcels. It was a final stage of an international operation, involving Spain, Portugal, Greek and Italian drug enforcement agencies and Europol.

Portugal's Public Security Police (PSP) announced last week the seizure of 128,000 "individual doses" of hashish in a Lisbon raid, which also saw one arrest.

The operation coincided with Spanish police seizing 1.5 tons of hashish in a joint cross-border maritime raid. Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) seized the boat at the fishing village of Isla Cristina, after it was intercepted and boarded by the Spanish Coast Guard off Andalusia. It was apparently bound for Portugal when it was intercepted.

Last month, there was a similar raid, with Spanish and Portuguese police announcing the dismantling of an organization that used powerboats to import Moroccan hash into both countries. Fifteen were arrested. 

Entrepreneur and drug policy reform activist leaked a United Nations paper calling for decriminalizing drug use. The paper argued that treating personal drug use as a crime “contributed to public health problems and induced negative consequences for safety, security, and human rights.”

More and more tourists are travelling to experience the freedom to try cannabis in tolerant countries

The whiff of weed is spreading across the globe as more countries decriminalise the possession of small quantities of cannabis. The Netherlands has always been the Mecca for those seeking a taste of something illicit but you can now travel further in order to indulge in a spliff or a hash cake.

Colorado, where cannabis was legalised three years ago, is already seeing a big growth in tourism. Tax revenues from the now legalised business are adding to the State’s coffers. Canada’s new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his Liberal party are in favour of legalising marijuana.

Portugal is a hot topic in drug reform debates. Yet, the experiment being carried out in that European country is often mischaracterized by both supporters and critics. The secret of Portugal’s drug policy success is not decriminalization, but its capacity to tailor responses to the needs of specific users.

The current debate surrounding failures in drug policy, particularly in the United States, has largely centered on over-incarceration, strong-armed law enforcement, and harmful drug use.

MADRID –  Spanish and Portuguese police say they have dismantled an organization that used powerboats to import large quantities of drugs into Spain from Morocco and have arrested 15 suspects.

A statement says surveillance began when evidence emerged of a large-scale, well-organized smuggling operation based in southwestern Spain.

The gang allegedly used a network of specially-equipped piers and warehouses to receive drugs and was able to move part of its operation to southern Portugal when it discovered its activities were being watched, Saturday's statement says.

Any way you look at it, dagga is medicine. Even if you smoke it just to get “high”, the South African weed won’t just alter your consciousness.

It has a host of other powerful pharmacologic effects on body and mind, which make it medicine by definition.

Depending on which side of the legalisation or criminalisation fence you sit on, you’ll see those effects in a good or bad light.

“The dagga couple”, as the media have dubbed activists Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clark, sit on the side of the fence bathed in the glow of a good light. They are part of an influential legalisation campaign in South Africa that has spread faster than the weed grows, and now includes medical doctors, psychologists, lawyers, and other interested parties.