Mr. António Manuel Leitão da Silva:

We did not stop the use of the power of stop and search in Portugal just because of the decriminalisation of drugs. At the end of the day, if we find the individual with drugs and we refer them to the Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, the police would have had to search the individual to seize the drugs to be able to then send the person to the dissuasion commission. The power of stop and search was not blocked with decriminalisation in 2001.