CAD in Portugal

Law No. 1687 restricts the import for consumption of opium, cocaine and their derivatives.

National coordinating body with the power to create and maintain establishments and services necessary for the observation, surveillance and treatment of "alcoholics, drug addicts and individuals affected by other anomalies".

Law No. 2118 of April 3, which once again makes explicit reference to alcoholism and drug addiction

The purpose of this centre is to build a place for recovering alcoholics.

It operates in Lisbon at the Júlio de Matos Psychiatric Hospital, with one of its pavilions dedicated to the treatment and recovery of alcoholics and other drug addicts.

The 1st United Nations Convention specifically on drugs comes into force in Portugal, with the aim of combating drug abuse through coordinated international action.

Drugs, Madness, Death - which accentuates and dramatises the consequences of drug use.

Start of consultation at the Psychiatry Department ofSanta Maria Hospital in Lisbon.

The centre has preventive and medico-social treatment competences, and the Centre for the Judicial Investigation of Drugs (CIJD) is responsible for repressing and monitoring illicit drug trafficking.

The CEJ and CIJD give rise to the Office under the Ministry of Justice, which coordinates the activities carried out by:

• Centre for Drug Prophylaxis Studies (CEPD), working in the fields of prevention, treatment and social integration of drug addicts;
• The Centre for the Investigation and Control of Drugs (CICD), which is responsible for repressing illicit drug trafficking;

• Creation of the Commission to Combat Alcoholism (CCA), under the Ministry of Health, focussing on prevention;
• The Regional Centres based in Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto, executive bodies of the CEPD, were also created under the Office for the Coordination of the Fight against Drugs (GCCD). These centres began to carry out preventive activities and, within the scope of their clinical departments, began offering treatment to drug addicts, their families, those around them and young people at risk;
• Therapeutic communities began operating in the Centre and South Regional Directorates;
• Experimental opiate substitution programme with Methadone, at the CEPD in Porto;

Restructuring of the Office for the Coordination of the Fight against Drugs (GCCD) by Decree-Law no. 365/82 of 8 September, which was renamed the Office for the Planning and Coordination of the Fight against Drugs (GPCCD), remaining under the Ministry of Justice.

Adherence to European Technical Cooperation Programmes for the Prevention of Alcohol Problems(PLA), which goes beyond the medical-social model and opens up to broader, multidisciplinary perspectives.

• First Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Group, in Lisbon, of the 12-step Minnesota Model;
• Creation of the Portuguese Society ofAlcohology (SPA) on 12 June, with the aim of promoting study and knowledge in the field of alcohol-related problems;

• Creation of Projeto Vida, a structure under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, for the national coordination of policies in the area of drug addiction (demand and supply) and support for civil society;
• Opening of the Taipas Centre, the first drug addiction treatment service under the Ministry of Health;

Creation of Centres in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon, aimed at preventing alcohol-related problems, coordinating activities and treatment, under the General Directorate for Mental Health Care.

Creation of the Ministry of Health Service, approved byLaw 83/90 of 14 March, responsible forthe national public network of care for drug addicts (CATs, withdrawal units and therapeutic communities).

Say no to a second-hand syringe, organised by the National Commission for the Fight against AIDS (CNLCS) in collaboration with the National Association of Pharmacies.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), one of the European Union's decentralised agencies, has set up in Lisbon.

• Approval of Law no. 7/1997 of 8 March, which affirms the need for a network of public services for the treatment and reintegration of drug addicts, including careunits, withdrawal units and therapeutic communities to guarantee access to preventive care, treatment and social and professional reintegration for all citizens affected by drug addiction ;
• Creation of the Life-Employment Programme under the responsibility of the VIDA Project Coordinating Office and the Employment and Professional Training Institute. Its strategy is to provide technical and financial support for the recruitment of drug addicts undergoing treatment, with a view to their socio-professional integration;
• Administration of Methadone in Pharmacies through the signing of a protocol between the National Association of Pharmacies and the Order of Pharmacists;

National Strategy to Combat Drugs, Council of Ministers no. 46/99 of 22 April.

Creation of the IPDT, by Decree-Law no. 31/99 of 5 February, which integrates the competences of the VIDA Project Coordinating Office and the Office for Planning and Coordination of the Fight against Drugs, which are now extinct.

• The so-called Decriminalisation Law for the consumption and possession for consumption of all illicit psychoactive substances (Law no. 30/2000) came into force on 1 July, following the creation of the Commissions for the Dissuasion of Drug Add iction (CDT) (DL no. 130-A/2001);
• A strong commitment to Risk Reduction and Harm Minimisation(RRMD), with the approval of Decree-Law no. 183/2001, which ratifies the general regime of prevention and risk reduction and harm minimisation policies;

The Institute was created by Decree-Law no. 269-A of 29 November, integrating the competences of the Portuguese Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction (IPDT) and the Drug Addiction Prevention and Treatment Service (SPTT).

Evaluation of the National Strategy to Combat Drugs and Drug Addiction and the start of a new strategic cycle 2005-2012.

This evaluation resulted in recommendations that were taken into account when drawing up theNational Plan to Combat Drugs and Drug Addiction 2005-2012.

• Operational Plan for Integrated Responses (PORI), a nationwide structuring measure for integrated intervention, which seeks to boost the synergies available in the national territory by carrying out territorial diagnoses to support the implementation of Integrated Response Programmes (PRI);
• Integration of the Regional Alcohol Centres into the IDT,I.P., based on the new Organic Law of the Ministry of Health and throughDecree-Law no. 221/2007 of 29 May;
• First meeting of the National Alcohol and Health Forum (FNAS), held in Coimbra on 25 June, with a broad group of representatives from civil society, to discuss issues relating to alcohol consumption and the basis for structuring a National Plan for the Reduction of Alcohol-related Problems (PNRPLA 2010 - 2012);

Creation of SICAD, which abolished the Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction, I.P., and assigned the operationalisation of health policies to the Regional Health Administrations, I.P., byDecree-Law no. 124/2011 of 29 December.

National Plan for the Reduction of Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (2013-2020), which for the first time includes non-substance addictions.

Thefirst international conference on Addictive Behaviours and Addictions, Lisbon Addictions, organised by the Service for Intervention in Addictive Behaviours and Addictions (SICAD), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the Journal Addiction/Society for the Study of Addiction (Addiction/SSA) and the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE).

• Presidency of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, under the banner of Human Rights ;
• Opening of the first supervised consumption rooms in Lisbon - Beato and Arroios, run by the Médicos do Mundo Association, in partnership with the Treatment Activists Group (GAT);
• Commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the National Drugs Strategy (1999);

• Creation of the COVID micro-site with specific information and guidelines on approaches to problems and addictions in the context of the pandemic;
• Start of SICAD video conferences;

Opening of the first supervised consumption room in Porto, after the trial period provided for by law, carried out by a consortium of NGOs led by the Piaget Agency for Development (APDES).

• Creation of the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies, I.P. (ICAD), which succeeds the attributions and competencies of SICAD and the ARS, I.P., relating to the implementation of local intervention programmes aimed at reducing the consumption of psychoactive substances, preventing addictive behaviours and reducing dependencies within the scope of the Divisions for Intervention in Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (DICAD) and the functional units providing health care in terms of intervention in addictive behaviours and dependencies;
• National Plan for the Reduction of Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies - Horizon 2030, approved by Council of Ministers Resolution 115/2023 of 26 September 2023;
• Extension of national coordination structures to substance-free DACs (Decree-Law no. 89/2023, article 8);
• Creation of the European Union Drugs Agency through Regulation (EU) 2023/1322 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on 27 June 2023;

ICAD, I.P. takesup its duties by means of Ministerial Order no. 6-A/2024, of 4 January, which approves the statutes and defines the respective internal organisation.