NCJ Number
207404
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 34 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2004 Pages: 587-622
Date Published
2004
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes drug control policies in Poland.
Abstract
Across the world, prohibition has been embraced as the preeminent drug control strategy, no longer limited to American policy. Prohibition makes psychoactive substances illegal and criminalizes nearly any activity associated with them. Although the general prohibition strategy has been widely diffused around the world, there remain practical differences in its application between countries. Among European nations, a progression of increasing softening has taken place; some countries have gone so far as to depenalize or decriminalize certain aspects of drug involvement. Hand in hand with this decriminalization approach are parallel approaches that focus on treatment and harm reduction. The nature of the drug problem in Poland since the 1970’s is reviewed, followed by a description of Polish drug policies under communist authorities in the 1970’s, which largely considered drug use an individual pathological problem. During the 1990’s, following the fall of the Iron Curtain, changes in the supply patterns renewed public debate regarding Polish drug policies and legislation. In 1997, Parliament passed the new Drug Abuse Counteraction Act which applied a public health approach to the demand aspect of Poland’s drug problem and depenalized personal possession. Alternatives to punishment were introduced as a result of the Act, including harm reduction measures such as maintenance treatment and a needle and syringe exchange. Regarding drug supply issues, Poland adopted measures more congruent with international drug conventions, such as greater police powers to use invasive investigative techniques. More recent drug policy debates in Poland are caught between an increasingly punitive, repression model and the public health model put forth by the Drug Abuse Counteraction Act. It is difficult to predict whether Poland will continue on its path of “Europeanization” or be pushed toward the “Americanization” of its drug policies. Notes, references