Portugal's Drug Dissuasion Panels Have Opened 213,621 Cases in 25 Years, and Nine in Ten People They Assess Are Not Dependent

Portugal's Comissões para a Dissuasão da Toxicodependência (CDT, Commissions for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction) opened 213,621 cases against people caught using or carrying drugs for their own use between 2001 and 2025, according to figures released on Friday 16 October by the Instituto para os Comportamentos Aditivos e as Dependências (ICAD, the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies) and reported by the Lusa news agency. Cannabis has been the main substance throughout.

The figures came out as the commissions marked their 25th anniversary with a day of talks at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social in Lisbon. They are the administrative side of the policy for which Portugal is known abroad: since 1 July 2001, using drugs, or buying or holding them for personal use, has been an administrative offence (a contraordenação) dealt with by a health-led panel, not a crime dealt with by the courts.

What the 25 years show

• 213,621 cases, not 213,621 people. ICAD says the cases correspond to 193,713 records of people, and stresses that this is not the number of different individuals either, because the same person can be counted more than once over 25 years.
• 2025: 10,866 cases opened and 10,164 records of people.
• Repeat cases: between 2022 and 2025 the reoffending rate stayed between 5 and 6 percent.
• Who comes before the panels: in recent years about 90 percent of the people assessed showed a non-problematic pattern of use, and about 10 percent were dependent.
• Referrals: 57 percent were referred to support after a psychosocial assessment, to specialist addiction services, health services or social services.

The cases start with the police. The GNR and the PSP, and also the judicial authorities, identify people using or carrying drugs and send the report to the commission. There are 22 commissions: 18 on the mainland, supported by ICAD, three in the Azores and one in Madeira.

The trend in the monthly data

The SNS Transparency Portal, which publishes a monthly running count of the cases, shows how the numbers have moved. Its series, which does not match ICAD's annual totals exactly, peaked at 13,637 cases in 2017, fell to 7,094 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and has been between about 11,100 and 11,800 a year since 2023. From January to August 2026 it counts 7,840 cases, against 7,766 in the same months of 2025. Of the people in those cases, the portal classes 471 as dependent and 4,288 as not dependent.

What the law says if you are caught

The rules are in Lei n.º 30/2000, which came into force in July 2001 and was last clarified by Lei n.º 55/2023. For anyone living in Portugal, the main points are these:

• Using, buying or holding drugs for your own use is not a crime. It is an administrative offence. The police identify you, can search you, seize the drugs and send a report to the commission for the area where you live.
• The ten-day rule. Holding more than the average individual consumption for ten days is not automatically trafficking, but since the 2023 change it counts as a sign that the drugs may not be for personal use. If it is shown that they were only for your own use, the case is closed or you are acquitted, and you are sent to the commission.
• Growing is different. Cultivating plants for your own use, including cannabis, is still a crime under Decreto-Lei n.º 15/93, punishable by up to three months in prison or a fine, although the court can waive the penalty.
• The panel, not a judge. Each commission has three members, one of them a lawyer and the others drawn from fields such as medicine, psychology and social work. It hears you, decides whether you are dependent, and can ask for medical tests. You may bring a therapist of your choice.
• First time, not dependent: the commission must suspend the case. It is closed for good if you do not reoffend during the suspension, which can last up to two years, or three if the commission extends it. A dependent person without a previous case who agrees to treatment also has the case suspended.
• Possible sanctions: for people who are not dependent, a fine or a non-financial sanction instead. Dependent people can only receive non-financial sanctions. These include a formal warning, community service or a donation to a charity (with the person's agreement), regular reporting, and bans on going to certain places. The commission weighs the substance, whether use was in public, whether it was occasional or habitual, and the person's circumstances.
• Asking for help first is protected. The law does not apply to someone who goes to a health service and asks for help, and health staff are bound by professional secrecy.

Selling drugs remains a serious crime, and in September we reported that selling fake drugs in Lisbon's Baixa is about to become a crime in its own right.

Sources: ICAD's figures as reported by Lusa on 16 October; the SNS Transparency Portal dataset; Lei n.º 30/2000 and Lei n.º 55/2023 in the Diário da República (Portugal's official gazette), in Portuguese.