Minister counters PSP and says support for drug addicts is enough

“ Contrary to what happens, for example, with the elderly population, we have no information there that is not enough” the support said to the agency Lusa Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho.

In the margins of the inauguration of a home of the Holy House of Mercy of Mafra, the governor referred to the Ministry of Health “when it is only a matter of drug addiction”.

“ If it is a situation that also entails social deprivation, which is often associated with drug addiction, such as the person being homeless, for example, then the social security responses also come in and are working well with the reception centres”, he explained.

The commander of the Lisbon Metropolitan Command of the PSP asked for more investment in support for drug addicts, supporting that the fight against drug trafficking and drug use “is not only police”, but also health and social security.

In an interview with the agency Lusa, Chief Superintendent Luís Elias spoke about the increase in drug trafficking and use in the area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Command of PSP (Cometlis) and its relationship with some crime, namely thefts to establishments and residences and assaults on people on the streets.

According to Luís Elias, cocaine consumption “has been democratized, it is no longer a drug of the elites, being consumed by various social strata” due to the reduced price and increase in supply, and is currently being sold “very adulterated”.

The Cometlis commander said that “cocaine use is concentrated in certain places” in Lisbon and acknowledged that street drug use has “impact on people’s feeling of insecurity”, stressing that the PSP seeks to combat this phenomenon from the point of view of trafficking.

However, he recalled that consumption has been “considered by the legislator as a public health problem” since 2000, and that the drug addicts’ problem should also be addressed by the health system and social security.

“ It is also important to call here the need for investment, public funds, support for drug addicts. I think it's very important to go back to investing in street teams. Investment gives us the feeling that at some point it is no longer such a big priority and it is necessary to invest again”, he called.

According to Luís Elias, street teams currently exist, but “with less dimension”, and it is necessary to work in the replacement programs, in the monitoring and assisted consumption.

The commander pointed out that there is “a certain increase in consumption on the public road because there is a lack of response” to health and monitoring.