DRUG ADDICTS ARE PATIENTS IN THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC

Abstract

          Thailand has been facing drug prevention and suppression problems for a long time, resulted in the prosecution of many offenders. The 80 percent of the inmates are imprisoned. Consequently, the chronic prison overcrowding has been a long-standing problem for a decade.  According to the study on the prevention and suppression of drugs in the Portuguese Republic, in term of legislation, the criminal offenses for drug users have been reduced by changing the status of the drug addicts to be the patients. Therefore, there is no crime to be prosecuted. Moreover, there are preventive, remedy, and systematic treatment measures for the drug users, imposing by the laws related to the medical sphere and public health, taking care of the drug users’ health, reducing the danger of the drug addicts towards themselves and the society. By such means, the Republic of Portugal has less number of drug-related lawsuits brought to court. Only the cases relating to the drug-related criminals are filed to the courts, which are the cases related to the manufacturers and the distributors without the licenses issued by the state. As a result, the prisons in the Portuguese Republic has very few inmates, and some prisons had to be closed. The aforesaid approaches of the Portuguese Republic is very interesting, and should be endorsed to Thai legislative policy. By decriminalizing the drug users and initiating the preventive and rehabilitative processes under the effective medical and public health treatments, as the Portuguese Republic. The problem regarding the overflowing prisons which have been a problem in Thailand for a long time shall be effectively solved.