Serbia Archives - Drug Policy Network SEE

Curriculum for working with youth at risk

One of the outcomes of the “No risk, no borders for young people” project, coordinated by the Drug Policy Network South East Europe (DPNSEE) together with the project partners Aksion Plus (Albania), Margina (Bosnia Herzegovina), Juventas (Montenegro), Prevent and Re Generation (Serbia) and supported by the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) within its 4th Open Call co-financed by the European Union, is the regional Curriculum for working with youth at risk.

The Curriculum was developed using a comprehensive educational approach, fully based on principle “youth for youth”. By including the youth in its design, testing and applying, it enabled the full match of the Curriculum with the present youth interests and issues of both the youth at risk as its beneficiaries and “other” youth.

It includes sections on Terms and definitions, Course delivery mode, Educational tools and materials (from international level) for working with youth at risk, Online tools for organizing educational activities, and four modules on The issues, The communities, The approaches and Systemic approach with 15 different topics.

The Curriculum was produced by external experts appointed through an open call: Megi Xhumari, Ioanis Papadopoulos and Aleksandar Trudić. Young people which participated in the project implementation, participating in a focus group, project team and trainers contributed with their expertise, ideas and comments.

The Curriculum was produced in English and is available in Albanian and Bosnian – Montenegrin – Serbian versions.

Kurrikula për të punuar me të rinjtë në rrezik

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Curriculum for working with youth at risk

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Kurikulum za rad sa mladima u riziku

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Drug-induced deaths in Serbia

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe published the Analysis of the data on drug-induced deaths in Serbia 2008 – 2019.

DPNSEE has prepared the analysis using statistic about the drug-induced deaths managed by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. The data used are segmented using codes of the causes of death, agreed with the Ministry of Health and the Institute for Public Health “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut”, in accordance with the standard protocol of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

The statistics include annual tables presenting number of those passed away by different indicators: gender, age, location, substance that caused death, consequence of long term use or accidentally, etc.

The key data from the Analysis include:

735 people died from drug use in Serbia in the period 2008 – 2019
13,60% of them were female
After sharp drop in 2010 and 2011 and the lowest number of deaths in 2017, last two years we have an increase of 72,73%
Serbia is in the bottom of the European scale of drug-induced deaths per million people (8,21)
2/3 of deceased was in the age range 25 to 40
150 deaths were consequence of long-term use of drugs. Out of them 97 was connected with opioids, 2 with cocaine, 4 with hallucinogens and 47 with multiple substances
585 were consequence of intoxication, with 212 accidental, 48 intended and 325 with unclear intention
206 intoxications were related to heroin use, 81 to other opioids and 122 with psychodysleptics; only one with cannabis derivatives and none with LSD
By far, most of the intoxications happened at home
In 2018, two people aged 17 – 19 died; in 2019, two aged 65+

DPNSEE emphasized controversies and questions with reliability of the data:

Ministry of Health has no updated data on causes of death. We must wait until mid-next year to get the data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia to know which they were.
Drug-induced deaths are not always reported. Instead, they are classified as stroke, heart attack, heat stroke or suffocation by vomiting.
Other causes of death are also not registered, including AIDS and Hepatitis caused by using infected sterile equipment for injecting drugs (registered earlier), chronic pneumonia, liver damage, random injuries and violence and suicides caused by drug use.

There are no yet data about coronavirus influence to drug-induced deaths in Serbia. But, the Analysis envisages that it may result in more deaths due to additional risk of overdose and intoxication caused by depression, anxiety, stress, isolation and loneliness, use of whatever drug is available and mixing them (also with alcohol and legal drugs), lack of support (doctor visits, group counselling, treatments, emotional support, etc.), lack of basic income, lack of proper nutrition, etc.

Naloxone is legally used in Serbia only by emergency ambulance staff. Civil society organisations have proposed wider availability of naloxone, but this proposal was rejected during the process of amending the Law on Psychoactive Controlled Substances.

To read the Analysis, please follow this link>>>.

The presentation with bilingual data (Serbian and English) is available following this link>>>.

Two years after the Analysis was published, the Drug Policy Network South East Europe published the document with new updated data. It indicates that the number of drug-induced deaths in the last two years have decreased by 9%, but it is still high. Data also show that average age of those deceased has increased from 8,36 to 46,04, including 12 persons aged over 60. Number of females have increased for 43%. A worryng data is that the number of those who died because of use of methadone doubled.

The updated document with data from 2020 and 2021 is available following this link>>>.

Discrimination of people who use drugs in South East Europe

The basic human rights of marginalised groups in South East Europe are violated and they are marginalised and discriminated. Stigmatisation in the society is strong and incorporated in cultural patterns.

The most frequent cases of discrimination are related to stigmatization in various respects, the relationship between the police and the judicial system (including the right to information in criminal proceedings), the protection of personal data, basic and specific health care, social protection, the right to education, employment and many other areas of life which should be available to every person.

DPNSEE, with the support of its member organisations, launched a survey to document cases of discrimination of drug users and connected vulnerable and marginalised groups and produce an analysis of the findings. The document was presented at the at the Kick-off event of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign on 26 June 2019. The survey indicated different forms of discrimination. It will serve as basis for additional actions on safeguarding human rights of affected groups.

The document is currently available only in Serbian following this link>>>.

As the pre-task activity for the Workshop in scope of the No risk, no borders for young people project, selected young activists have documented cases of discrimination youth from groups at increased risk in their local communities.

At the end of the Workshop, the project partners have agreed to prepare a publication with analysis of the cases of discrimination. This document presents the results of this analysis.

The research in question was conducted in May 2021. In total, 50 questionnaires about cases of discrimination towards youths with alternative identities or lifestyles have been collected from four countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania). The discrimination cases were supplied by five non-governmental organizations that are members of DPNSEE (Drug Policy Network in South East Europe) – ReGeneration, Aksion Plus, Prevent, Margina and Juventas, and the organization Puž.

Due to the relatively small sample of questionnaires, this research cannot provide any reliable conclusions. It can therefore be considered exploratory, and will have the aim of mapping out some of the more common forms of discrimination and violence encountered by young people with alternative identities and/or lifestyles in south-eastern European countries. This analysis strive to shed light on key areas and topics for further research and action regarding the position, discrimination and (lack of) exercising of rights of these social groups.

The publication “Documenting cases of discrimination of youth at risk in Western Balkans” is available following this link>>>.

Statements

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe aims to promote objective and open debate on the effectiveness, direction and content of the national, regional and international drug policy and to advance constructive recommendations for policy makers.

The Network issues Statements to present our join views on issues of importance for drug policies.

The DPNSEE statement on Drug checking

DPNSEE is publishing this statement on the occasion of 31 March – The International Drug Checking Day, in order to stress the importance of implementation of drug checking services as an early intervention in different drug use settings.

This statement outlines the attitudes of the Network following that drug checking represents an essential aspect of public health policy as recommended by the World Health Organization and has been further developed by both EU agencies and various European nations.

Download PDF of the statement

The DPNSEE statement on Drug checking<<<

Version in Serbian is also available

Izjava o dostupnosti servisa za testiranje droga>>>

Glossary of terms used in drug policy

Glossary is an alphabetical list of terms used in a domain of drug policy, with the definitions for those terms. It contains explanations of concepts and terms related to the field of drugs and relevant related matters. We hope that it will contribute to better understanding the drug problem in a more empathic manner.

The Glossary should serve firstly to member organisations in a way that will help in process of harmonization of opinions and attitudes. This material will also serve a wider range of groups of people including policy makers, stakeholders, activists, the media, police, judiciary and others.

The Glossary will be updated from time to time. If you find difficulties in understanding some other terms used in drug policy, please don’t hesitate to contact DPNSEE and we shall be more than happy to find a definition and add it to the Glossary.

With the support of the member organisations, DPNSEE will prepare versions in various local SEE languages.

At our webpage, you can access interactive version where access to terms will be quicker and translations available promptly here>>>

Download the Glossary in various languages: