Porto to Relocate Pasteleira’s Supervised Drug-Consumption Room, Enhance Safety

The Porto City Council has ordered a technical review to shift the city’s only fixed supervised drug-consumption facility away from Pasteleira, a decision that could reshape public safety and harm-reduction services across Portugal’s second-largest metropolis.

Why This Matters

• Possible relocation this year could move drug activity away from two schools and the Serralves cultural site.

• Services will not close; the Council vows that 365-day support and the mobile van covering Campanhã and the Historic Centre will continue.

• New location still to be picked: specialists say it must remain accessible to users or risk driving consumption back onto the streets.

• Security upgrades coming: 117 extra CCTV cameras and 80 new municipal police officers are budgeted for summer.

Why Now?

Since the Pasteleira room opened in 2022 inside a modular unit, nearby residents and school boards have complained about discarded syringes and open-air drug use. Mayor Pedro Duarte—in office barely 100 days—argues that keeping a harm-reduction hub “glued to the wall of Fundação de Serralves and wedged between two schools” no longer makes sense for a city that markets itself as a design and culture capital. His stance is backed by the Portugal Ministry of Health, which co-funds the facility through the consortium Um Porto Seguro.

A Delicate Balancing Act

Specialists compiling the relocation study face a classic dilemma: move too far and the most vulnerable users will simply inject in stairwells and public gardens; stay too close and community backlash will stall future health projects. European evidence shows that supervised rooms work best when they are

• near existing street-use hotspots,

• linked to on-site medical and social teams, and

• accepted—if not embraced—by local shopkeepers and residents.

Porto’s mobile unit, launched in 2025, already follows this script by parking daily in Campanhã and the riverside alleys of the historic centre, offering safer consumption, wound care and HIV testing. Data released by ICAD (formerly SICAD) indicate that 62 % of users do not live in Porto municipality, underscoring the need for an address that works at a metropolitan scale.

What This Means for Residents

Cleaner school corridors: If the Pasteleira module is dismantled by autumn, the surrounding school community should see fewer needles and less loitering.

No service downtime: The city promises a seamless hand-over; users will be directed to the interim mobile van or—in extreme weather—to temporary indoor booths.

Better lighting and CCTV: Streets earmarked for late-night drug activity will receive LED lighting upgrades funded under the same security package that adds 117 cameras.

Property impact: Real-estate brokers in Lordelo do Ouro expect that relocating the facility could lift asking prices by 3-5 % over the next 12 months, though market analysts caution that interest-rate policy will play a bigger role.

Timeline and Next Steps

• Late February 2026: Expert panel submits short-list of three alternative sites to City Hall.

• March: Findings debated at the Municipal Security Council; public consultation opens for 15 days.

• Before summer: Decision on location and building permit; 80 new municipal police officers hit the streets.

• Year-end: New facility expected to open with expanded capacity for inhalation services, showers and a job-placement desk—a model already tested in Lisbon’s Alcântara room.

Portugal’s Broader Harm-Reduction Playbook

Portugal pioneered drug-policy decriminalisation in 2001 and now runs supervised rooms in Lisboa, Porto and several pilot sites in the Azores. Evaluations by the EU Drugs Agency show that these rooms cut overdose deaths, limit disease transmission and do not raise crime rates. The current national plan (2024-2026) also funds extra counselling for online gambling and social-media addiction, reflecting a shift from single-substance to multi-behaviour strategies.

Who Picks Up the Bill?

The relocation budget—estimated at €1.2 M, similar to the cost of a mid-size primary-care unit—will be split three ways:

• Porto City Council (45 %): capital expenditure on land or modular structures.

• Portugal Ministry of Health (40 %): staffing, medical supplies and data monitoring.

• ICAD grants (15 %): community outreach and evaluation.

City officials maintain that the tab will not dent planned spending on schools, bicycle lanes or the Ramalde CCTV extension.

Bottom Line for Expats & Investors

If you live in Porto—or hold short-term rental property—expect a visible security upgrade in tourist corridors, modest gains in property valuations around Pasteleira and steady harm-reduction services city-wide. For anyone working in health or social care, vacancy notices are likely once the new site is approved, aligning with the national push to hire more addiction specialists.

City Hall’s final address choice will signal whether Portugal can reconcile neighbourhood liveability with its internationally praised, health-first drug policy. Either way, the era of ignoring open-air drug use in flagship cultural zones appears to be ending.