Mr. António Manuel Leitão da Silva:

We have to go in two different ways. First of all, there is the increasing number of drugs that are coming to Europe. Portugal is an entry door for most of the drugs in Europe. It happens also with the north part of Spain that is in the vicinity of our north border. At the same time, we have had disinvestment in the drug harm reductions. It happened in 2010 or 2012 with the dismantling of the Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction. That means if we do not put money into strategies, it is most likely we are not going to be very successful. The numbers will increase again because from the last numbers I have been through we have a population of around 11 million and last time it was about 74 deaths provoked by overdoses. If I compare this number with other countries in Europe it is quite low, but the number was much lower in the past. That means if we are not investing in the social, medical and police approach we are not going to be very successful. There is a political consciousness right now to put in some money and reinvest because we are having the problem again, that is, we have high visibility of drug use on the streets. I remember the situation before 2001 and also the years afterward. The change was dramatic and we had an outstanding performance after 2001. In 2012 we had an economic crisis that really affected Portugal. Investment in several areas had to be cut and this area was critically affected. We are now paying the bill, especially because we have more drugs coming to Europe right now. This is a conjunction of both these situations, rather than just the increase of drugs in Europe.