Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ing countries on their own merits rather than rolled in with the EU. The risk of lending to
Portugal shot up—and so did interest rates.
Today, a hard reality is hitting Portugal: Much of the money it had spent wildly was
not in fact a gift but, rather, a loan. And that loan needs to be paid back with interest at
rates that have gone way up since 2008. The interest that Portugal owes on EU loans is
crushing the local workforce. Unemployment is up to 15 percent. The country produces
$230 billion annually—slightly more than the gross domestic product of Louisiana. And
that economy is struggling.
In 2012, Portugal's major infrastructure projects have not just stalled—they've come
to a full stop. The TGV bullet train from Madrid to Lisbon, Lisbon's new airport, planned
freeway expansion—all nice ideas, all put on indefinite hold.
Portugal's “Law 30”
Portugal has one of the more progressive drug policies today. In 2000, the government
passed “Law 30,” which decriminalized the consumption of all drugs. The law re-
cently underwent a 10-year review. Although a conservative government has since re-
placed the more progressive government that established “Law 30,” even former op-
ponents agree that its benefits have far outweighed its harms. “Law 30” will continue
to be the law of the land.
Portugal was repressed by a dictatorship until 1974. With freedom, people em-
braced their liberty, and formerly suppressed activities such as drug use temporarily
spiked. In 1999, a group of experts came together to find a solution to the drug-use
problem. They realized that the “war on drugs” was actually a “war on people.” Sim-
ilar to in the US, only about one percent of Portugal's population (100,000 out of 11
million people) was actually using hard drugs.
The goal of “Law 30” was to establish a legal framework for harm reduction. Drug
addicts are considered to be sick, not criminals. Drug use and possession are still il-
legal, but no longer punishable with jail time. Instead offenders are given treatment,
community service, or fines.
The review studied drug consumption trends from 2001 to 2009. Researchers
summed up Portugal's experience this way: “Nothing bad happened.” The big neg-
atives some had predicted, including the expected advent of “drug tourism,” didn't
materialize (young backpackers didn't start converging on Portugal as the new drug
mecca).
