Reports on the country's situation regarding drugs and drug addiction and alcohol 2022

The Annual Reports on the country's situation in terms of Drugs and Drug Addiction and in terms of Alcohol for 2022 are now available.

Portugal continues to emerge as one of the European countries with the lowest prevalence of recent consumption of cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy, the three illicit substances with the highest prevalence of recent consumption in Portugal.

The most recent national studies point to positive developments in the prevalence of drug use in the general population and in other population subgroups. Between 2017 and 2022 there were significant declines in the recent and current consumption of any drug, due to the decrease in cannabis consumption, with the recent and current consumption of other substances remaining generally stable or with slight declines in the total population and , stable or with slight increases in the 15-34 age group.

There is some negative evidence regarding problematic consumption patterns. The prevalence of moderate-risk and high-risk cannabis use in the total population remained identical, with the high-risk prevalence increasing among younger people, and particularly in those aged 15-24 (0.2%, 0.7% and 1.3%, in 2012, 2017 and 2022). In turn, there was an increase in high-risk use and dependence among recent cannabis users, both aged 15-74 and 15-34.

For the second year in a row, there was an increase in the experience of problems related to drug use among 18-year-olds.

The evidence also points to a decreasing trend in recent opiate users and intravenous drug users in mainland Portugal, but, in the opposite direction, estimates indicate an increase in cocaine users (including crack).

Regarding mortality related to drug consumption, according to INE, IP, in 2021 there were 81 deaths according to the EMCDDA criteria (+29% than in 2020), the highest figure in the last seven years, thus reinforcing the increasing trend in the last five years.

Despite the decrease in overdoses in 2022 compared to 2021 (-7%), the values ​​in these last two years were the highest since 2009, and those in the last five years were the highest since 2011. In overdoses in 2022, it is worth highlighting the presence of cocaine (67%), opiates (48%) and methadone (28%), with cocaine representing the highest value since 2009.

In 2022, 24,176 users with problems related to drug use were undergoing treatment in the public network's outpatient clinic. For the second year in a row there was a slight increase (+1%) in users undergoing treatment at the outpatient clinic, after declines in the previous four years, still falling short of pre-pandemic figures. As in the previous year, the increase in those who started treatment during the year (+11%) was more pronounced among new users than among those readmitted. Heroin continues to be the most commonly reported main drug among outpatient and DU users, but for some years now, cannabis has been the most prevalent among new outpatient users and cocaine is predominant among TC users. In 2022, it is worth noting the significant increase in users starting treatment with cocaine as the main drug.

In 2022, 8,252 administrative offense cases were opened for drug consumption relating to incidents in the year and, despite the increase compared to 2021 (+29%), the number still remains below the pre-pandemic figure, representing -12% of what it was in 2019 and -32% compared to 2017 (year with the highest value since 2001).

In Portugal, recent trends expressed through various indicators in the field of illicit drug supply are generally in line with European trends.

2022 was the year with the most seizures in the last ten years, both of cannabis (hashish and marijuana), as well as cocaine, heroin and ecstasy, and with the highest quantities confiscated in that period, with a trend towards larger quantities in recent years of drugs seized.

Indicators related to the supply of drugs suggest the availability of the most consumed substances in the country with greater potency or purity in recent years, greater accessibility to them and greater circulation of drugs in the markets. 2022 was the year with the most seizures of various drugs in the last ten years and with the highest quantities confiscated in that period.

Studies show that cannabis continues to be the illicit drug perceived as having the greatest accessibility, reflecting the prevalence of consumption in the Portuguese population.

In relation to routes, Portugal continues to be used as a transit country in the international trafficking of hashish and cocaine, in particular in flows originating respectively from North Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, and destined for other countries, especially Europeans.

At the beginning of this cycle, some positive developments were observed in indicators in the area of ​​alcohol, but there were more negative developments, whether recent developments or continued worsening.

Despite the increase in abstinence in the general population (15-74 years old), between 2017 and 2022 there were no improvements in most indicators. The average age at which alcohol consumption began decreased, recent and current alcohol consumption, severe drunkenness, high-risk consumption and dependence increased (this has been increasing since 2012 and has almost quadrupled in ten years). Worsenings were common across both sexes and most age groups, although more significant in men and at some ages, such as high-risk consumption in those aged 15-24 and 25-34 years and dependence in those aged 35-44 and 45-54 years old.

In the context of school populations, the most recent study showed a stability in alcohol consumption between 2018 and 2022, but among 18-year-olds in the general population, despite the stability of recent and current consumption in the last five years, in 2022 there was an increase in binge drinking and drunkenness, particularly among the female group.

For the second year in a row, the number of those entering treatment for problems related to alcohol use increased, reaching the highest figure in the last ten years (mainly at the expense of those readmitted), as well as hospital admissions with diagnoses attributable to alcohol consumption, with the 2022 value being the highest in the five-year period.

There were negative developments in terms of mortality, with deaths from diseases attributable to alcohol in 2020 and 2021 being the highest in the last ten years and fatalities from road accidents under the influence of alcohol increasing in 2021 and 2022, already reaching pre-pandemic levels. Among the positive developments, we have the case of hepatitis C in these populations and deaths from alcohol poisoning, which decreased in 2022 (the second lowest value in the period 2016-22).

As part of the inspection relating to the availability, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in public places open to the public, in 2022 12,871 establishments were inspected, a lower number than in 2021, although it represents the second highest figure in the five-year period.

As for the volume of alcoholic beverage sales, after the decline in the quantities available for consumption in 2020 there was a recovery in 2021 and 2022, with sales already exceeding pre-pandemic levels in all alcoholic beverage segments. According to AT, in 2022 around 590.7 million liters of beer, 39.1 million liters of other fermented drinks, 17.6 million liters of intermediate products and 10.1 million liters of of spirit drinks.

It is therefore a major challenge to reverse the recent worsening in alcohol consumption and associated problems, in a context of global crisis that is expected to have a negative impact on addictions and within a national policy framework in these areas considered to have low control.  

These reports are the result of the work of SICAD, within the scope of the implementation of the Action Plan for the Reduction of Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies, in close collaboration with the various national source services that provide information on their specific areas, addressing not only the problem of point of view of Demand and Supply. These documents allow us to know the country's situation, but also to evaluate and monitor the evolution of the goals defined in the National Plan for the Reduction of Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies, with a Health in all policies approach.

See the reports HERE