The data is contained in the Executive Summary of the Annual Reports for 2024 of the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (ICAD), which aggregates information from surveys and barometers conducted in recent years in Portugal and Europe on consumption and dependencies, and which is being presented today in the Assembly of the Republic.

"Between 2021 and 2024, there was an upward trend in the use of the internet to purchase these substances, with the exception of cannabis," reads the report, which reveals that 27% of recent consumers of new psychotropic substances (NPS) acquired these substances on the internet, on the “darknet”, through social networks or messaging applications, with a lower percentage of consumers using these channels to acquire other drugs, such as cannabis, ecstasy or cocaine.

As for drug trafficking, the ICAD report points to Portugal's position as a transit country on routes originating in Latin America and North Africa, stressing that "additional challenges have arisen" in the fight against trafficking, due to the infiltration of organisations in national ports and airports, the main points of entry, and the use of speedboats for the transport and transhipment of drugs on the high seas.

"In addition to large-scale trafficking, there is also greater use of social networks and websites on the deep and dark web to order drugs that reach end consumers by post. Added to this is the increase in acts of violence among people associated with drug trafficking," the report adds.

On accessibility issues, ICAD points to the fall in the price of hashish in 2024 and the rise in the prices of cocaine and heroin, also highlighting that the purity of drugs seized in 2024 increased, with the exception of heroin.

Regarding drug trafficking offences, ICAD reports 6,871 suspected offenders identified in 2024 (29% as traffickers and 71% as traffickers-consumers), of whom 4,820 (70%) were arrested.

Of the 930 criminal cases concluded in 2024 under the Drug Law, involving 1,450 people, 80% were convicted, and the decisions "predominantly involved suspended sentences (60%), followed by actual imprisonment (35%)."

On the last day of 2024, 1,919 people were imprisoned under the Drug Law, "the highest number in the last seven years", most of them convicted of trafficking.