Italian drug policy

Zuffa, Grazia

doi:10.4324/9781315690384-9

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…It means a shift from policies aimed at eliminating both drug offer and drug demand, to regulation policies, focusing on set and setting variables to limit risks. The self regulation model is consistent with the bottom up approach of Harm Reduction, emphasizing drug users competencies in controlling drug use and reducing risks, while creating the environmental conditions to maximize users' control abilities and minimize the negative environmental conditions and influences [31].…”

Section: Harm Reduction and The Self Regulation Modelmentioning

confidence: 70%

Cocaine and stimulants, the challenge of self-regulation in a harm reduction perspective

Zuffa

2022

ebph

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A significant body of research on cocaine users recruited outside the “captive” populations (i.e. studies from samples of users who have not been enrolled through drug addiction services) has been carried out in many European countries and outside Europe. These studies show a variety of patterns and trajectories of use other than “addictive” use. The reason of most “controlled” use lies in a wide set of self-regulation “rules” users “naturally” apply to keep drug use at bay and prevent the disruption of everyday life. Not only is this perspective at odds with the “pathological” perspective of professionals, focused as this is on “addiction” originated from the chemical properties of drugs and individual psychological deficit; it also challenges the social representation of drugs as intrinsically “out of control” substances and of drug users’ helplessness under the influence of drugs.The paper describes the workstream Innovative cocaine and poly-drug abuse prevention programme, developed in 2013 by the Italian NGO Forum Droghe within the European project New Approaches in Drug Policy &Interventions (NADPI), aimed at linking findings from research on “controls” to operational models in drug addiction services. Through a critical overview of the disease model and taking cues from users’ self regulation strategies, a new “self regulation” operational model has been developed, focused on users’ control abilities; and on social context and setting of use, following the drug/set/setting paradigm. The self regulation model may be seen as a development of the Harm Reduction approach to drug policies, aimed at decreasing the negative consequences of drug use without necessarily reducing the consumption of drugs.

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Section: Harm Reduction and The Self Regulation Modelmentioning

confidence: 70%

Cocaine and stimulants, the challenge of self-regulation in a harm reduction perspective

Zuffa

2022

ebph

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“…Many studies claim that the particularities of national public policies are due primarily to such singularities, which, in the last analysis, reflect cultural habitus. Thus, for example, neither the French nexus between a strongly institutionalized harm-reduction model and an enduring repressive legal framework (Obradovic, 2017), nor the Italian to-ing and fro-ing from decriminalization to harsh punishment of drug use (Zuffa, 2017) can be explained without taking account of their respective political histories and cultural idiosyncrasies. The process of drug policy reform is always heavily influenced by local constitutional features: Switzerland's early innovations in harm reduction owe much to the country's federal structure and dispersion of powers (Zobel, 2017).…”

Section: National European Drug Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Western and Central Europe: towards a cohesive model for drug policies?

Colson

Bergeron

2020

Research Handbook on International Drug Policy

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In Europe, the extent of drug use and drug trafficking vary greatly from region to region. This is also true of domestic drug policies which, against many indicators, are very diverse. However, the deepening of the integration process of the continent and the rise of subnational actors in the design of local responses to drug issues have led to a progressive convergence. A policy discourse and a legal attitude that favor treating and reintegrating drug users rather than depriving them of their liberty has been developing at the transnational level. A cultural model for drug policy is emerging with enough cohesion to be able to claim that the European Union and European states (including non-EU Member States) have reached shared positions on the political acceptability of harm-reduction measures. Meanwhile medicinal cannabis is increasingly making inroads in the field of conventional medicine and several jurisdictions have been developing tolerant policies regarding recreational cannabis.

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“…Portugal was not the first country to decriminalize drug use and possession. For example, in Italy minor drug possession has been decriminalized-with interruptions-since 1975 † [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…§ Finally, the success is recognized internationally: despite strong initial opposition, the Portuguese approach has been described as a 'model of best practices' by the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) [10, p. 23]. † With two interruptions, from 1990 (Jervolino-Vassalli bill) until the 1993 referendum, and between 2006 and 2014 [1]. ‡ Although doctors can be members of the commissions and they were important supporters of the new policy, especially psychiatrists, they are such a scarce resource in the Portuguese health system that it is difficult to have them in the commissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding successful policy innovation: The case of Portuguese drug policy

Moury

Escada

2022

Addiction

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Introduction In 2000, the Portuguese minority socialist government decriminalized the possession and consumption of drugs. This law made Portugal unique in having a formal system that directs the person using drugs to a panel under the purview of the Ministry of Health, as opposed to the Ministry of Justice, and hence constitutes an ‘original innovation’. In this article, we ask under which conditions such kinds of reforms are introduced and successfully implemented. Aims and design After discussing the limitations of the existing literature, we present a new theoretical framework: the ‘six‐stars’ framework. We argue that successful policy innovation in democracies will only occur and persist when six institutional and individual ‘stars’ are aligned: attention, motivation to innovate, a new solution, political strategies, quality and legitimacy of the decision‐making process and guarantees for full implementation. We then apply this framework to the Portuguese Drug Policy Case through theory‐testing/process‐tracing. Relying upon a qualitative analysis of three different types of data—primary and secondary sources, official documents emitted by key actors and interviews—we identify the presence of the six aligned ‘stars’. Conclusions The proposed ‘six‐stars’ framework of successful drug policy innovation shows the importance of electoral mandates, communication, inclusion, transparency, deliberation and evaluation when designing innovative drug policies. It also illustrates the importance of ensuring the support of implementing agents and quickly creating visible, positive policy feedback.

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Italian drug policy

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Cocaine and stimulants, the challenge of self-regulation in a harm reduction perspective

Cocaine and stimulants, the challenge of self-regulation in a harm reduction perspective

Western and Central Europe: towards a cohesive model for drug policies?

Understanding successful policy innovation: The case of Portuguese drug policy

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