João Castel-Branco Goulão is currently Portuguese Drugs and Alcohol National Coordinator and Director General of the Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies General Directorate (SICAD), the body within the Health Ministry responsible for the policy coordination in this field. He was Chairman of the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) from 2009 to 2015 and he has a long experience in addictions field at international level. He is the Chair of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe for the period 2019-2022.

A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Goulão has over 20 years’ experience regarding drug-related issues, working in this field since 1987 as general practitioner and since then all his professional life has been devoted to drugs and health. He was also a member of the Portuguese Committee which, in 1999, prepared the report on which the first Portuguese Drug Strategy was based and that included decriminalisation proposal.

Dr. Goulão’s Linkedin: Click Here

Interview Transcript: Click Here