Portugal fully subscribes to the statement by the Greek representative of the EU group. We are promoting a balanced approach based on the 2009 political declaration adopted in 2009. Portugal has a strategy on drugs for demand and supply to protect public health. We implemented the decriminalisation of consumption and adopted a wide range of measures. In our national policy, we keep a focus on decriminalisation as the results so far have been very positive. But there is room for improvement. We follow with interest the relevant international experience of other countries. We have been basing our policy based on scientific evidence. Our policy has showed positive results through independent studies carried out over the past years. In this regard, I want to highlight the positive aspects of our policy:
– reduction in cases of HIV infection among PWUD
– prevalence of HIV and new cases have declined among clients
– harm reduction measures have had a direct impact on this.

We want to reiterate the involvement of civil society in the efficacy of our policy. We remain committed to the principle of shared responsibility and the action plan adopted in 2009. We are committed to human rights. We reiterate our opposition to the death penalty. Finally, we strongly believe that we must pursue our efforts to tackle the drug problem. We will contribute to this endeavour.

Please click here to view the full statement: http://myconference.unov.org//Documents/Get/da7571f2-da6d-4752-97e8-d1b4b525786f