The Tale of Two Drug Policy Approaches: Polish and Portuguese Drug Policies During 2000s and Their Effects

• In Event: Cross-National Analyses of Crime and Punishment

Abstract

In 2000 in Poland and in Portugal major but completely different reforms of drug policies were introduced. Portuguese reform involved decriminalization of personal drug possession of illicit drugs, while Polish one introduced broad criminalization of such possession. Therefore it may be interesting to observe developments in both countries during the 2000s using available criminal justice data regarding intensity of the law enforcement effort and available epidemiological data regarding prevalence of drug use. To measure intensity of the law enforcement effort present research used available statistical data on the number of drug offences in general, and the number of drug possession offences registered by the police in both countries, as well as the data on the numbers of convictions for such offences. To measure prevalence of drug use were used results of general population surveys in both countries, as well as the results of European School Survey on Alcohol and other Drugs. It is necessary to note that despite substantially increased law enforcement effort Poland did not experience any drop in drug use prevalence, or even its stabilization. At the same time moderate, low level Portuguese law enforcement pattern did not result in any substantial increases in drug use.

Author

• Krzysztof Piotr Krajewski, Jagielonian University