Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Statistically, the number of Portuguese people who have tried various drugs did in-
crease a little (possibly because the new law made it more comfortable to admit drug
use). But there was no change in actual usage rates. Drug use by young people (ages
15-24) actually fell in the long run; after going up in 2003—immediately after the new
law went into effect—rates dropped back down by 2005. The slight increase of con-
sumption in Portugal after “Law 30” was similar to increases in Italy and Spain during
the same period—likely a regional trend unrelated to the change.
Other outcomes of “Law 30” are that Portugal now has fewer people with HIV and
more people in treatment. The police like the law because it frees up resources to fo-
cus on violent crime. The burden on Portugal's prisons and criminal system has been
reduced. And the Portuguese government went from being the enemy of its drug-using
population to being its advocate.
A local friend told me, “In pre-euro days—with the
escudo
as our currency rather
than the Deutsch Mark in disguise—when there was no money for chocolate milk, we
just made do with white milk. Until 1974, when we won our freedom from Salazar,
we were on the donkey system. Everything was slow. Then, with freedom we got the
fever. And that accelerated with our membership in the European Union. Dazzled by Ger-
man standards, we were encouraged to have faith in debt. Portugal got drunk on cheap
European loans. And most of what we purchased with those loans was from Germany and
France—feeding those economies—now, it seems, at the expense of our own.”
In 2011, the EU approved a €78 billion bailout package, but with it came the require-
ment for strict austerity measures. To enforce these measures, the EU headquarters in
Brussels has sent in “The Troika,” a trio of managers tasked with helping Portugal get its
economy back on a sustainable track. Austerity measures include more tolls on highways,
higher deductibles for hospital visits, cutbacks in healthcare, and new taxes, including a
23 percent tax on all restaurant income. Utilities such as electricity are being privatized.
The era of protecting traditional and inefficient industries is over. The retirement age has
been raised from 65 to 67. And a worker-friendly scheme from the Carnation Revolution,
which took a year's wage and broke it into 14 “months” rather than 12 (to give workers
a “bonus” each summer and Christmas), has been rescinded. Now workers making more
than €650 a month (about $850) get only 12 months' pay. Because this scheme was never
really a “bonus” but rather a forced savings account, the change amounts to about a 15
percent pay cut.
The EU's “Troika” consider the Portuguese to be good, receptive workers willing to
take their medicine responsibly (especially when compared with Greece). But Portugal's
