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Fake drugs in Lisbon could drive tourists away

Just in case you don’t know: Tings Lisbon is a non smoking hotel – including joints!!

But don’t worry: If you – like me – enjoy smoking an occasional joint Lisbon is one of the best place to do so in the world.

I’m not talking about the quality of the dope which is much better in Nepal where I’ve lived for years. I am talking about the sun, the views, the mild climate, the beaches and the chilled ambiance that surrounds us.

So don’t be surprised to find the couple having lunch or dinner next to you sharing a joint… even the suits working in the offices on Avenida Liberdade finish their day with a smoke and a coffee at one of the many quiosques. Portugal has a very liberal attitude towards soft drugs.

Lisbon has a fake drug problem, and government officials are worried it’s going to drive tourists away.

An army of ersatz dealers is hawking flour and ground-up bay leaves to unsuspecting foreign visitors — leaving local merchants and tour guides worried that Portugal’s recent tourism boom could fizzle.

Isabel Vincent New York Post, 8 February 2020

In 2001 Portugal decriminalized the use of drugs.

This is not a joke – a couple of month the police ran a campaign against buying bay leaves.

Not by making drugs legal but by treating small possessions of weed, cocaine, heroin, you name it as a public health issue, not a criminal one.

In theory getting caught with dope may result in a small fine and maybe a referral to a treatment program — not jail time and a criminal record. In reality nobody cares.

This liberal drug policy had two immediate results.

First: The prime reasons behind the drug policy: drug related crime & important drug related deaths declined immediately.

Second: Lisbon got flooded with irritating drug dealers: they are everywhere in downtown.

How to Deal with the Drug Dealers of Lisbon

Don’t get surprised when a friendly looking persons stops you on Rossio or Praça do Comércio and offer you coke, weed, amphetamine or harder drugs.

But don’t buy anything. It’s only stupid tourists that do that. You don’t have to be an experienced smoker to see and smell that the ‘shit’ you get offered is exactly as what it looks like: Bay Leaves!

Instead go to the supermarket and buy the bay leaves there – it’s much cheaper LOL…

OR – do a little research on some of the online Cannabis Guides like The Lonely Cannabis Travel Guide.

Enjoy,

Thomas

When you’re in Lisbon for more than 10 minutes and you look foreign, or even Portuguese but not uptight, you’ll be approached by gentlemen offering you marijuana, hashish, cocaine, heroin, and whatever else the kids are doing these days for kicks.

Their favorite areas to offer you things to put into your pipe/nose/vein include Rossio square, Cais do Sodré circle, certain corners of Bairro Alto and, now, Principe Real.