Participate in the Civil Society Forum on Drugs Survey on the EU Drug Strategy

Are you part of a Civil Society Organization working in Drug Policy? Your voice matters in shaping drug policies in the EU!

Participate in the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) Survey on the implementation of the EU Drug Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2025 and share your knowledge on the implementation of drug policies. Your insights will contribute to the evaluation of the current situation regarding the accessibility and quality of key demand reduction and harm reduction programmes and interventions and help identify potential changes since the last assessment.

You can find the Survey here.

Responses can be submitted until the 30th of October 2023.

Your participation is voluntary. All responses will be kept anonymous and integrated into a report published on the website of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD).

This survey continues the efforts of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs to monitor the implementation of EU drug policies from the perspective of civil society organisations. So far, the CSFD has published three reports on the topic:

With this survey, we aim to discover the extent of implementation of the EU Drug Strategy 2021-2025 in the EU Member States and beyond in the middle of its running period. We ask you to fill in the questionnaire providing answers according to your best expert knowledge.

If you have any questions, please contact Iga Jeziorska, the Chair of the Working Group on the EU Drug Policy, at: iga.kender-jeziorska@euro-yoda.org.

Report on Access to Mental Health Care for People Who Use Drugs in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association and a team of researchers conducted an exploratory study in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) to assess the availability of mental health care services for people who use drugs and published the findings in the report titled LINKING DOTS: Assessment of opportunities for optimal access to MENTAL HEALTH CARE services for people who use drugs in the CEECA region.

They focused on Czechia, Estonia, Moldova, and Poland, collecting data through in-depth research, literature analysis, and interviews with health service providers, harm reduction service staff, and patients/clients. The study revealed that despite relatively developed mental health facilities and treatment facilities for people who use psychoactive substances in these countries, significant obstacles persist in providing mental health services to people who use drugs.

The researchers recommend using these findings to improve harm reduction and healthcare programs, address systematic barriers, and promote cooperation among agencies to enhance access to mental health care. The study aims to advocate for the integration of harm reduction and mental health support systems to provide better care and support for individuals in need.

Explore Mainline NL’s Informative Website for Reliable Information on Chemsex

For those seeking reliable information on Chemsex, here’s a very relevant resource: you can access the English version of Mainline NL‘s dedicated website!

The UK’s first official consumption room was approved by authorities in Glasgow

On the 27th of September, Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board – bringing together officials from NHS Scotland, the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland, and council officials – have approved the first official drug consumption room in the UK, reports BBC News.

The pilot scheme will be located at a health centre in the east of Glasgow and is funded by the Scottish government as part of a wider strategy to address the country’s drug death crisis. At the facility, people who use drugs will be able to consume their own substances, including heroin and cocaine, under the supervision of health professionals. Due to legal issues concerning the Scottish anti-smoking legislation, and ventilation and filtration-related challenges, the proposal for a room where clients can smoke illegal substances has been removed from the original proposal for now.

Hopes are that the consumption site will be open by the coming summer and run for an initial three years. Plans to open such a project have been on the way in the past years, and the final steps towards their realisation became possible after Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC announced earlier in September that it would not be in the public interest for people using a pilot Safer Drug Consumption room to face prosecution for possession within the facility.

Training in Ljubljana: Advancing Drug Consumption Room Initiatives

Two local organisations from Slovenia, NGO Stigma from Ljubljana (also a C-EHRN focal point), and NGO Šent from Nova Gorica are working towards opening drug consumption rooms in the two cities in the near future. To support the process, during the last week of September (28th-29th), Roberto Perez Gayo and Arianna Rogialli, Policy Officer and Project and Policy Support Officer from Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN), visited Ljubljana to deliver a training program in collaboration with them. Besides local NGOs, representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Municipality of Nova Gorica, the National Institute of Public Health and the Psychiatric Clinic of Ljubljana have also attended.

C-EHRN in conjunction with the European Network of Drug Consumption Rooms (ENDCR) designed and delivered the training. The content was specifically tailored to align with the local context, drawing from an earlier Assessment of Needs conducted in collaboration with the two host NGOs and the DCR Manual produced by C-EHRN/ENDCR in 2022.

The training in Ljubljana had several important outcomes. Firstly, it equipped participants with practical tools and insights needed for the successful planning, establishment, and operation of DCRs. The event also served as a platform for sharing best practices and service models from different regions, with an aim to enhance the quality of care provided in DCRs.

Notably, the training fostered cooperation among local and national stakeholders, including representatives from diverse sectors like healthcare, government, and NGOs. This collaboration allowed for constructive discussions regarding needs, challenges, and joint strategies—a critical element for the future success of DCR projects.

Additionally, the training offered an introduction to various DCR models and approaches, offering tools and strategies for participants to create their own service models and operational protocols, as well as monitoring, data collection, and evaluation processes.

C-EHRN and ENDCR have made a commitment to providing ongoing support for the DCR initiatives in Slovenia. They plan to follow up with participants through a check-in meeting in the coming months and offer further support materials as required.

In conclusion, the training in Ljubljana marked a step on the long path towards the establishment of Drug Consumption Rooms in Slovenia. It provided participants with valuable tools and knowledge and fostered collaboration among stakeholders.

 

European Testing Week 2023 Autumn

The Autumn European Testing Week takes place on 20-27 November 2023.

Join the partner organisations – community, healthcare and policy institutions – in increasing access to testing and promoting awareness on the benefits of earlier hepatitis and HIV testing!

Amsterdam on the front line of HIV prevention, highlighting the importance of access to PrEP

The Mayor of Amsterdam and Mark Vermeulen, the director of Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland have just shared at the Fast-Track Cities 2023 conference* that Amsterdam had only 9 new HIV acquisitions last year and highlighted the importance of access to PrEP, trans-led services & sex worker community engagement.

 
As the figures show, 9 people were (estimated) infected with HIV in Amsterdam last year. According to the fund, the reason for the significant decrease in HIV acquisition is the increasing availability of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medicine that reduces the chances of getting HIV.
 
As Het Parool reports, these numbers have been rapidly declining for several years, with 66 people diagnosed with HIV in the city in 2021, compared to 128 in 2019. Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland stated that the reason for the achievement is additional financing to make the HIV prevention medicine PrEP accessible to more people. PrEP is available from the general practitioner or the Municipal Health Service for people who are at increased risk: for men who have sex with men, for trans men and trans women who have sex with men and for some sex workers.
 
 
*The Fast-Track Cities 2023 conference, taking place between 25-27 September in Amsterdam, gathers people living with HIV, health professionals, mayors and many other experts from more than 500 cities from all over the world to create a platform for sharing successes and best practices and address challenges in urban HIV, tuberculosis, and Hepatitis C responses. This year, inclusion in healthcare is the conference’s primary focus.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Advocates for Human Rights-Centered Drug Policy Reform in new report

In a report of great significance released today, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for transformative changes toward drug policies that are based on health and human rights, calling for the decriminalization of drug use and recommending governments shift to responsible regulation in order to take control of illegal drug markets.

The report, titled “Human rights challenges in addressing and countering all aspects of the world drug problem”, underlines the harsh consequences of the ‘war on drugs’ and drug policies focused on punitive practices on human rights. The recommendations include the meaningful engagement of civil society organizations, people who use drugs, affected communities, and youth in shaping drug policies, and calls for the inclusion and support of harm reduction services.

In a statement released in response to the report, 133 civil society and community organizations welcomed its recommendations and called on the international community, the Member States, the Human Rights Council, drug control bodies, and UN agencies to act on the UN human rights chief’s call for systemic drug policy reform.

For more information, read IDPC’s thorough coverage here.

Key step towards the establishment of the first official Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow

On the 11th of September, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC announced that it would not be in the public interest for people using a pilot Safer Drug Consumption room to face prosecution for possession within the facility, and Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Elena Whitham has welcomed her position. This means that Glasgow authorities can now move forward with their proposal to establish a facility which can operate within the current legal framework.

According to the Lord Advocate’s response to the request from the Scottish Parliament cross-committee on tackling drug deaths and drug harm, she would consider making a public statement of prosecution policy if a pilot safer drug consumption facility were to be established. The announcement is based on the proposal developed by the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and Police Scotland.

Open letter to the Members of the European Parliament to vote against the Prostitution Report

13 organizations united under the European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, including C-EHRN, addressed the Members of the European Parliament in an open letter, calling them to reject and vote against the report on the regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights, 2022/2139(INI), which will be put to a vote in plenary on September 14.

“Our organisations are leading civil society networks and human rights organisations. We have decades of experience and expertise in addressing women’s rights and gender equality, human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, harm reduction, the rights of LGBTI people, digital rights, human trafficking, migration, racial justice and criminal justice. Within these numerous fields of expertise, all 13 organisations have come to the same conclusion: criminalisation of any aspect of sex work, which is proposed by this report, does not protect the rights of women and others engaged in sex work for manifold reasons, and does not help address the very serious issue of human trafficking and forced labour. It is only by adopting a human rights-based approach, decriminalising all aspects of sex work, and meaningfully including sex workers and sex workers’ human rights defenders in decision-making, that people selling sex, including victims of sexual exploitation, can be protected and serious human rights violations against people selling sex experience can be addressed.”

Read the reasons why we consider the report biased and harmful for people selling sex and other vulnerable groups in the open letter accessible below.