Author: Milutin

Executive Director, Drug Policy Network Youth East Europe

An interesting webinar on social contracting

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Health Policy Plus, APMG, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, UNAIDS, UNDP, USAID and others hosted a webinar on 6 March 2019 to discuss social contracting for HIV care, treatment and support. Presenters from around the world discussed how to plan for social contracting as part of a long-term sustainability strategy and how to advocate for it, touching on policy and regulatory challenges, how to develop mechanisms to put social contracting in place and how to implement and monitor social contracting’s success.

To view the recording of the webinar, follow this link>>>>

Slides from the webinar are available following this link>>>>

Health Policy Plus also prepared a factsheet Social Contracting: Supporting Domestic Public Financing for Civil Society’s Role in the HIV Response from which you can learn more about social contracting and how it can support domestic public financing for civil society’s role in the HIV response. You can find the factsheet following this link >>>>

Improving partnership with Čovekoljublje

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DPNSEE Vice-President Nebojša Đurasović and Executive Director Milutin Milošević visited “Čovekoljublje” (Philanthropy), the charitable foundation of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Foundation performs emergency (humanitarian) and development programmes. Philanthropy’s basic principle is respect of human rights, reflected in providing assistance to all those in need, regardless of their race, gender, nationality or religious affiliation. It cooperates and is supported by number of institutions: ministries, province and municipal authorities, health care and social welfare institutions, institutes for protection of children and youth deprived of parental care, and series of civil society organisations.

In scope of it’s the Health care and social welfare programmes, Philanthropy initiated a programme providing expertise and voluntary psycho-social support for people living with HIV/AIDS – PLHIV in 2003 with the blessing of Patriarch Pavle. This programme’s main purpose is suppression of social isolation and discrimination of PLHIV, as well as development of voluntary work and public awareness on presence of HIV/AIDS within various social groups.

For some time already, DPNSEE and its member organisations from Serbia actively cooperate with Philanthropy. The visit was an opportunity to exchange about activities and plans with project coordinator Aleksandra Božinović Knežević and generate ides for future cooperation.

Regular DPNSEE Board meeting

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The meeting of the Board of the Drug Policy Network South East Europe was held from 25 to 27 February 2019 in DPNSEE Office in Belgrade, Serbia.

The Board adopted minutes from the General Assembly held in December 2018 and Board meeting held by Skype recently this month. The DPNSEE Narrative and Financial report for 2018 were also adopted.

The Board discussed various elements of the DPNSEE Plan for 2019. An important decision is that the Strategic planning workshop will be held from 14 – 17 May. More details about the programme and venue will follow.

To increase visibility of our work and present our experiences and expertise, the Board decided to support participation of DPNSEE representatives in various international events: Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Harm Reduction International Conference and Lisbon Addictions 2019 Conference.

The Board also discussed contacts with member organisations, producing an operational manual, process and criteria for appointing DPNSEE representatives to various events, production of web pages for Glossary and Resource Centre, human rights and discrimination of people who use drugs, opportunities for engaging volunteers, overview of personal expertise, tools for on-line communication, problems with immigrants in Slovenia, accreditation and licencing of HIV prevention services, Regional EECA multi country grant and other issues.

Consultations in the Office for Combating Drugs

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The Office for Combating Drugs of the Government of the Republic of Serbia held a meeting with civil society organisations on 25 February 2019. Besides 11 organisations which signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Office in 2018 (including DPNSEE and 3 of its member organisations), 4 new organisations which established formal cooperation with the Office also joined the meeting.

Most of the meeting was dedicated to the proposals for amendments to the Criminal Law related to drug-related offenses. DPNSEE sent a formal proposal to the Ministry of Justice, the Working group for changes of the Criminal Law it created, The Office for Combating Drugs and the Office for support to the civil society organisations proposing decriminalisation of drug use and possession for personal use and protection of civil society organisations providing services to drug users. The proposal is available in Serbian following this link>>>.

The proposal was appraised as a very good, clear, concise and evidence based, but concerns were expressed that it may not be supported due to current situation in the country and increased conservatism in relation to the drug use. The participants emphasized the need to establish a system of accreditation of civil society organisations services. It should include all elements of their work, from prevention, harm reduction, treatment to social services and rehabilitation.

The Office will, through their representative, present civil society proposals to the Working group for changes of the Criminal Law.

The participation of civil society organisations representatives in the Working group to prepare the new Action plan for implementing the National Drug Strategy was appraised as a very good example of partnership. The Office will propose full involvement of the civil society in designing the new Strategy.

The participants at the meeting also got acquainted with the current activities of the Office on Drugs Policy, exchanged experiences on the previous cooperation defined in the Memorandum and made suggestions for improving it.

Greek Parliament set to vote on new bill establishing Supervised Drug Consumption Sites

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A hearing meeting of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament took place on 20 February 2019 to discuss draft law submitted by the Health Ministry. Among others, it includes various amendments of the Law 4139/2013 on drugs as well as a specific provision for the legal establishment of supervised drug consumption sites in Greece. The debate over the recent draft law is entitled “Private Clinics Statutory Framework, Modernization and Reformative recommendations, The National Public Health Organization establishment, the National Institute of Neoplasms and the other provisions establishment”.

Sofia GalinakiSofia Galinaki, Advocacy Officer of Diogenis and representative of the Greek organizations’ Platform for psychoactive substances, participated in the hearing, during which in cooperation with other Platform’s member organizations presented a series of proposals aiming to improve this legislative initiative.

Α relevant proposals’ memorandum was submitted on behalf of the Platform to the Committee and the Minister of Health, Mr A. Xanthos.

The second reading of the draft law by the Committee scheduled for 26 February 2019.

The current Law (in Greek) is available following this link>>>>

Public debate on legalization of cannabis held in Republic of Northern Macedonia

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“Decriminalization of the use of cannabis can have economic benefits for citizens, for agriculture and for the state,” is the general conclusion of the hearing “The economic and health benefits of legalization of cannabis in the Republic of Macedonia”. The debate was organised in the Economic Affairs Committee of the Assembly of the Republic of Northern Macedonia on 22 February 2019..

legalisation of cannabisVarious opinions on the economic and health benefits of cannabis, its use in agriculture and industry, the need for appropriate legal changes for better regulation of this matter, recommendations and appropriate education of the necessary personnel were highlighted at the public debate.

John Ilija Apelgrin and Janaki Mitrovski, founders of the NGO Bilka addressed the public debate. Representatives of Neuromedica Medical Center, Clinic for Pediatric Diseases, civil sector, Clinic for Toxicology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, Faculty of Pharmacy, NGO Bivium and several parliamentarians participated in the debate.

 

 

EMCDDA added 16 new programmes to online registry

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The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has added 16 new programmes to online registry of evidence-based prevention programmes. Xchange, EMCDDA’s project, is an online registry of evidence based prevention programmes. At the moment, it contains 38 programmes, even if it is in pilot phase.

In addition to providing information on the effectiveness of programmes, the registry, available on the EMCDDA Best practice portal, also offers information on the experiences of professionals who have implemented these programmes in individual European countries. This enables decision-makers to assess the ease with which programmes can be implemented in different social, cultural and organisational contexts. It also helps prevention professionals to learn and interact with each other about their experiences with these programmes.

Five of the new programmes focus on substance use prevention and 11 on crime and delinquency prevention.

emcdda

The registry is the centre piece of a growing network of national registries. Through Xchange, an interested visitor can access additional details on a specific programme in the national language within a local registry, or access through a national registry the European implementation experiences of a given programme. A unique feature of Xchange is that it allows national high-ranking programmes to be promoted in this European registry and, inversely, allows international visitors to find more details about local adaptations in national languages.

The Council of the European Union’s Minimum quality standards in drug demand reduction in the EU demands that prevention professionals have access to knowledge on effective prevention programmes. A growing number of programmes are considered effective at reducing substance use and related problems under carefully controlled conditions. However, access to evidence‐based prevention programmes is still limited and they remain under‐utilised compared to prevention strategies with no empirical evidence for effectiveness. Xchange aims to address this challenge by providing access to such programmes.

To explore the new programmes follow this link>>>>

 

 

EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis criticizes European Commission’s reflection paper

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The EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis issued a statement in response to European Commission’s reflection paper Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030.

The Forum states that the paper is arguably far too little, too late to live up to the expectations on Sustainable Development Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote the wellbeing for all at all ages. This is even more so when it comes to stigmatized and marginalized communities who continue to be disproportionally affected by HIV/AIDS, TB and viral hepatitis epidemics. By now we have the knowledge, the tools and the experience to make these epidemics history and to ensure that no-one is left behind. However, political leadership is lacking or waning.

To be a trailblazer and reap the significant medium to long-term human and financial gains that elimination of these epidemics entails, the EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS thinks that the EU needs to:

  • Increase its focus on social dimensions of sustainable development to ensure a reduction in social inequalities, sustainable and fairer health systems and improving health outcomes for all.
  • Adopt an ambitious agenda, implement a strong and budgeted action plan that is aligned with SDGs commitment and targets.
  • Develop a plan that is coordinated with member states and monitored via a sound indicator set aligned with the goal of elimination. This would allow a more accurate interpretation of the desired direction for EU action.
  • The EC could consider data collected by The European Union agency aimed at strengthening Europe’s defences against infectious diseases (ECDC) to provide a proper assessment of performance (e.g. infection rates, treatment coverage, prevention budget, regulatory frameworks). It could integrate ECDC and WHO reporting.
  • Improve coherence between EU policies and actions.
  • Collaborate with third countries to catch up.

To read full statement follow this link>>>>

Israel’s Health Ministry approves compassionate use of MDMA to treat PTSD

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Recreational use of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, is forbidden in Israel where the drug is considered dangerous. But, as the local media report, a trial treatment may soon change that MDMA, popularly known as ecstasy, is a drug more commonly associated with raves and nightclubs than a therapist’s office.

By flooding the central nervous system with serotonin, MDMA produces strong feelings of euphoria, which can last over eight hours. It is considered a popular party drug because it keeps revellers awake and energetic. Emerging research has shown promising results in using this “party drug” to treat patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, and Israel’s Health Ministry has just approved the use of MDMA to treat dozens of patients.

As all around the world, MDMA is classified in Israel as a “dangerous drug”, recreational use is illegal, and therapeutic use of MDMA has yet to be formally approved and is still in clinical trials. However, this treatment is deemed as “compassionate use,” which allows drugs that are still in development to be made available to patients outside of a clinical trial due to the lack of effective alternatives.

MDMA will be administered to about 50 patients in the approved program who have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder in the course of psychiatric treatment. In three out of 15 planned sessions, patients will be administered MDMA by specially trained staff at one of four hospitals around the country.

The decision to proceed with the program follows extensive investigative work by the Health Ministry, which sent a representative for training in the United States who worked on a confidential basis through the California-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). It’s possible that the Israeli Health Ministry could be two years ahead of global recognition of the treatment.

If matters proceed as planned, in 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will officially approve the treatment after deeming it a “breakthrough” therapy in 2017, a designation that puts it on a fast track to final approval.

To read full information follow this link>>>>