Tag: Diogenis

Initiative for the establishment and coordination of the “Greek Observatory for the Medical Use of Cannabis”

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In view of the on-going progress in the field of the medical use of cannabis at international level, as well as the current developments in Greece, NGO Diogenis within a network of collaborating civil society organizations – with years of experience, knowledge and activity in this specific area of interest – is undertaking the initiative to set up and coordinate the establishment of the “Greek Observatory for the Medical Use of Cannabis”.

The common goal of organizations involved is to ensure the immediate, unhindered and legal access of patients to quality cannabis for medical use based on international evidence based data and best practices.

Fundamental conditions required to achieve this goal are considered to be:

  • The creation of the appropriate legal framework to support and protect patients in their use and possession of cannabis for medical purposes.
  • The guarantee of access for patients to the appropriate form of medicinal cannabis in accordance to the indications of each individual medical condition.
  • The development of strategies to strengthen domestic cannabis production for medical use, beyond the introduction of legal medicines and cannabis preparations from abroad, to protect both the domestic economy and patients from the inherent risks of a market which is quickly being dominated by large multinational companies and international investment funds.
  • The promotion and defence of patients’ rights in accordance with the European Charter of Patients’ Rights (i.e. the right of access to the health services that health needs require, the right to information, the right of free choice, the right to avoid unnecessary suffering and pain).

You can read the press release here.

Support. Don’t Punish – SEE Country activities

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Albania

In the frame of the 26th of June and the world campaign Support. Don’t Punish, Aksion Plus will organize awareness activities in two cities, Tirana and Durrës, distributing leaflets and sharing information especially to young people. In parallel, they launched an online blog inviting young people, their beneficiaries and partners such as Y-peer, YMCA, Youth Voice network to write “What would you do about drug user’s rights, if you were a Prime minister” related to the drug policy reforms, treatment, and other related actions.

Other activities also involve their clients at opioid substitution therapy centres (OST) where they organise small group discussions, outreach information, leaflets distribution, one to one conversations and counselling to raise their awareness on how to better protect their rights, as well as to provide referrals to other institutions in case they face violations from police, courts and law enforcement agencies. The most vulnerable groups among their clients (i.e. street users, sex workers who use drugs, LGBT members) are strongly encouraged and supported to fight for their rights and report to Aksion Plus or to People’s Advocate when they face violence or marked stigma. Their six OST centres will be very active to convey the message of this campaign. Aksion Plus will also try to extend the activities with decision makers and politicians though it will be difficult as the general elections will take place on 25 of June. They have presented their ideas on drug policy and interventions during the Democratic Party election campaign.

Contact: gencaxionp@albmail.com

Bosnia and Herzegovina

To mark the day of 26th of June Association Margina planned a series of activities:
1. Public debate “Addiction and drug addicts in the legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
The public debate on this subject will be held on 26 June, in cooperation and partnership with the University of Tuzla. Professors and students of several universities (Law, Medicine, Education and Rehabilitation, Philosophy and Pharmaceutical) will participate. The goal is that academia provides guidelines on the suggestions of experts and NGOs that Bosnia and Herzegovina need Lex specialis “Law on Drugs” that would encompass all aspects of this phenomenon and its application in the society like the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2. Marking the global campaign “Support. Don’t Punish”
The evening of 26 of June will be dedicated to outdoor activities and promotion campaign supported by local DJs and socially engaged bands. During activities, a documentary film “I want to wake up,” will be shown, which gives a complete picture of the life of five drug users in different stages of their life.

3. Press conference and promotion of strategic documents
This event will be the introductory full-day program aimed to the media and partners that want information about these important documents and the developments regarding the Global Campaign to reach to the largest possible number of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At this event Margina will promote the following documents:
• National Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Drugs 2017-2022
• The policy for reducing harm from drug use in the Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina
• EU Action Plan 2017-2020

Contact: berinabahic@gmail.com

Greece

A group of civil society organisations from Greece will participate in the campaign:
• “CENTRE FOR LIFE” – for the support of people living with HIV/AIDS
• “DIOGENIS”- Drug Policy Dialogue
• “PeNUPS”- Peers’ Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances
• “POSITIVE VOICE”- Association of People living with HIV/AIDS
• “PROMETHEUS” -Hellenic Liver Patient Association
• “PRAKSIS”

These organizations constitute the “Greek Platform for Psychoactive Substances”, an unofficial initiative for joint action among organizations working in the area of drug policy and psychoactive substances. This year all these organizations are supporting the campaign and are responsible for its implementation in Athens, Greece. You can find more at https://www.facebook.com/supportdontpunishGreece/

Activities in Greece will include:
1. Press conference by “PeNUPS” supported by all the aforementioned organizations on 27 June from 12:00 to 14:00 at  Romantso, 3-5 Anaksagora Street, Omonia, Athens with aim to promote the campaign, highlight the actual needs of people who use drugs by giving floor directly to people who are the most affected by problematic drug policies. The challenges in the national drug policy will also be presented and the need for drug law reform and peer involvement will be promoted as one of the basic principles of harm reduction. The discussion will be coordinated by the journalist Mrs. Sotirchou Ioanna.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/203865003471040/

2. Street event (all the aforementioned organizations) with aim to make the campaign more visible to the general population and to offer some services to people who use drugs (e.g. food, mobile washing machine service, shower bus, rapid tests for HIV/HBV, HCV) Date: to be announced Location: SIN Athina, Athens at 19.00 pm, at Varvakeios square
Facebook event:https://www.facebook.com/events/321069778316468 

Contact: sofia.galinaki@diogenis.info

Macedonia

HOPS – Healthy Options Project Skopje opened the newspaper articles contest on the topic: „Why harm reduction programs are needed in the Republic of Macedonia“. You can find the call for articles here http://hops.org.mk/mk/content/povik-za-izbor-na-najdobra-novinarska-statija-na-tema-odrzhlivosta-i-potrebata-na-programite.

Subsequently, organization announced on-line petition for support on harm reduction programs in the Republic of Macedonia. You can find it at following link: https://www.change.org/p/ministry-of-health-and-the-government-of-the-republic-of-macedonia-a-petition-for-supporting-harm-reduction-programs-and-hiv-prevention-in-of-macedonia

On 25 and 26 June, HOPS will collect signatures for the petition in the main square in the city of Skopje while on 30 June they plan to submit the petition to the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and announce the winner article.

Contact: vlatkod@hops.org.mk

Montenegro

Our Member organization Juventas with other civil society organisations and community-based organisations, including youth organisations organises campaign in capitol Podgorica, but with national coverage on several activities. One of them is media launch of the questionnaire for young people living in Montenegro. NGO Juventas and the Montenegrin Union of high school students as a main aim of the survey will try to obtain information from young people about young people. They will be used to continue creating activities aimed at young people in Montenegro, in the area of drug use. The questionnaire is completely anonymous. Survey among Youth on drug use you is available here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Juventas

In 2017, the campaign is planned to cover 3 topics: 1) Harm Reduction, 2) Non-existing treatment for underage people who use drugs, 3) Young people and drug use.  Special attention will be given to topic of young people and drug use, which will be a part of youth debate that we will organize around Action Day.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/799566700220674/ 

Contact: tijanap@gmail.com

Serbia

Belgrade

Within the “Support. Don’t Punish” Global Day of Action NGO Re Generation is planning to organize a movie screening night that will aim to address the main obstacles and main problems regarding current drug policies in Serbia and wider. The event will be organised in Kvaka 22, on the 26 June, and the details of the event you can find on the Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/312618992520893

The three movies that will be screened will represent different sides of public health and human right issues related to drug use, including three different aspects of use such as recreational, problematic and medical and obstacles that exist when accessing information, services and other relevant programs.
Movies to be screened are:

  1. “Clubbing and youth health” – Harm reduction programs in recreational setting
  2. “Medical cannabis legalisation in Serbia” – Medical cannabis is legal in places as diverse as Canada, Uruguay, Israel and Jamaica. How would legalisation of medical cannabis look in Serbia?
  3. “Without shift” – What happened to NSP programs in Serbia after the Global Fund discontinued funding in Serbia.

Participant of the debate are:
Galeb Nikačević – VICE Srbija
Bojan Arsenijević – Re Generation
Teodora Jovanović – KSEA,
Ognjen Martinović – Re Generation

Contact: ngo.re.generation@gmail.com

—

Novi Sad

The Association Prevent will organise street action on 26 June from 10AM to 13AM in front of „Slobodan Bajić“ student home. The public event will include wearing t-shirts with „Support. Don`t Punish“ message and photograšhing people in the street who will be holding boards with the same slogan. Free t-shirts will be given away to people who want to support the campaign.

Contact: djnebojsa84@yahoo.com

Romania

RHRN with their partners will have the street activity around 2-3 open-air tents that will be installed in the centre of Bucharest, close to the University, to distribute information, the comic book on drugs, some banners on legalization and the campaign, presentations of the NGOs activities and distribution of some drug testing kits (LSD, ecstasy).

Contact: drosca@rhrn.ro

Annual Drug Policy Conference

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The Annual Regional Conference in South East Europe was organised in Thessaloniki from 8 to 10 June 2017. The conference aimed to bring together NGOs, policy makers and researchers active in the drugs field in the region of South East Europe, in order to discuss drug policy developments and trends, exchange experiences and best practices in the region, Europe and the United Nations.

The conference is part of the regional project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human rights oriented drug policy in South East Europe”, supported financially by the European Commission and the Open Society Foundations. The organiser was Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue.

National drug coordinators from Romania and Croatia

The Conference agenda included a large number of interesting issues:

  • The Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and drug policy. Priority issues, the role of UN agencies, expected commitments from the member states and role of NGOs. Presenter was Jo Dedeyne-Amann, Chief Secretariat to the Governing Bodies, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC. Nikos Stergiou, Communication and public relations Officer, Diogenis, presented experience of two local meetings.
  • Initiatives undertaken in the countries of our region related to implementation of the outcomes of the UNGASS and the role of NGOs. National drug coordinators presented work in their countries: drug co-ordinators: Sorin Oprea (Romania), Milan Pekić (Serbia), Željko Petković (Croatia) and Manina Terzidou, head of the Greek Monitoring Centre for Drugs (EKTEPN) (Greece)
  • Women and Drugs. Facts and Special Characteristics for Girls and Women who use drugs was the presentation from Meni Malliori, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Athens, while Georgia Aslanidou, Psychologist, OKANA Thessaloniki presented about Addicted mothers and the journey of therapy
  • Drugs and internet: experiences, opportunities and concerns in the use of online counselling tools presented by Ilias Paraskevopoulos, Consultant for addictions at KETHEA ITHAKI
  • The Harm reduction project in South East Europe. Developments and next steps presented by Sofia Galinaki, Advocacy Officer, Diogenis and Peers’ involvement in harm reduction, with introduction from Christos Anastasiou, Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances (PENUPS).
  • Irena Molnar and Bojan Arsenijević from the NGO Re Generation, Serbia provided valuable insight into Changing culture in drug use including new psychoactive substances
  • Developments in the discussion about cannabis policy in countries of SEE
Irena Molnar presenting about Changing culture in drug use including new psychoactive substances

Representatives from 14 DPNSEE member organisations, 3 Board members and all 5 Staff were at the Conference. We presented the Network, strategic priorities and plans for the future. Our two volunteers talked about their work on the Glossary and Resource Pool.

Marios Atzemis, DPNSEE Board member, making an intervention

The Conference was a very good opportunity to share and learn about interesting ideas and make plans for the future.

Partners Coordination Meeting

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Representatives of all 6 partners in the EU funded project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human rights oriented drug policy in South Eastern Europe” met in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 8 June 2017.

Partners adopted the Minutes of the Project Partners Skype meeting  held on Friday 10 February 2017 with some additions proposed by DPNSEE. Diogenis informed about successful audit for 2016 and announced  the EC initiated Audit of the Financial report 2015.

Partner organisations presented their short reports about the implementation of the Action plan 2017. Reports from visits to Croatia (written) and Bulgaria (oral, the visit happened just before the meeting) were received, with the comment that more information are needed about the work of civil society organisations. The visit to Slovenia is planned for September.

Agreements were made for preparations of the interim report and action plan 2018 (if possible, they will be done on partners meeting at the end of August/beginning of September). Partners are invited to send their proposals by 20 July.

Focus on transition

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Delegation of the project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public Health and human rights oriented Drug Policy in South East Europe ” visits Bulgaria from 29 to 30 May. The visit is part of the efforts for the enlargement of the Network as an essential prerequisite for making it a strong and reliable partner.

The main aims of the visit are to: (a) present DPNSEE to the Bulgarian society, (b) build strong relationships, enhance contacts and improve drug policy dialogue with the relevant authorities, state institutions, policy makers and NGOs, (c) explore opportunities for partnerships and collaboration and (d) discuss possible applications of local civil society organizations for membership in DPNSEE. The experiences from Bulgaria, country that is in transition from communist to EU member state, are of interest, especially because it will hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2018.

The delegation consists of 3 people: Marios Atzemis, DPNSEE Board member, Milutin Milošević, Executive director and Sofia Galinaki, Advocacy Officer, Diogenis (DPNSEE member organisation).

The first day of the visit, the delegation had an interesting exchange with Dr Vyara Georgieva, the Chief Expert in the Ministry of Health for the programmes financed by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Petar Tsintsarski, Consultant for the program Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS. The key learning points from this meeting are that the HIV/AIDS problem should be seen from various angles besides medical: cultural, social etc. and that financing services should be concentrated on the level of local communities.

During the meeting in the National Centre for Addiction with Momtchil Vassilev, Director of the National Focal Point on Drugs and Drug Addictions and Nikolay Butorin, Expert on Training Programmes, the delegation got a lot of data about drugs in the country. Improvement of Early Warning System for new psychoactive substances was an issue of joint interest.

Meeting in the National Centre for Addiction

For the second day of the visit, meetings were first scheduled with two civil society organisations: Initiative for Health Foundation and Centre for humane policy. Our colleagues gave us a realistic and open vies on the situation in the country, especially in the light of termination of the Global Fund support that will cause closing of services to drug users.

Dr Tsvetelina Raicheva, who recently directed the National Addiction Centre provided more statistics about the situation. At the Centre for the Study of Democracy the representatives of the network had a meeting with Mr. Dimitar Markov (Senior Analyst and Project Director, Law Program) and Mr. Atanas Rusev (Senior Analyst, Security Program). The Security program implements criminology research, actively contributes to the Bulgaria’s policy debate on organized crime and participates in projects on crime and security issues. The issues of inadequate funding and bureaucracy in the field of drugs were highlighted in this meeting as one of the biggest barriers at policy level. Moreover, the need for more action in the issue of immigration and its connection to drug use through several routes has to be identified and addressed.

With our friends from Initiative for Health Foundation and Centre for humane policy

Visit to Turkey opened door for future cooperation

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Long waited visit to Turkey happened the last few days of 2016. MIlutin Milošević, Executive director DPNSEE and Thanasis Apostolou, director of Diogenis, visited Istanbul from 27 to 30 December. Unfortunately, there were no time to visit other cities, especially Gaziantep and Izmir which are known for their work in the field of addiction.

Thanks to the excellent co-operation with the Green Crescent of Turkey and the dedicated assistance of Ms Rukiye Deniz staff member responsible for foreign affairs we set up a programme for 3 days. We also got support from the TACSO Turkey team in establishing contacts with few local civil society organisations.

DPNSEE and Diogenis representatives with Mr. Gökhan Dinç

Our first meeting was with Mr. Gökhan Dinç director of Project department of the Green Crescent. This organisation has a leading role in Drug Policy making in the country and has 40 branches (even outside of Turkey) and 101 representative agencies in Turkey, engaging more than 30.000 volunteers. Drug issue came high on the list of priorities since 2014 when the new Strategy and Action Plan were adopted.

Treatment of addiction is a responsibility of the ministry of health and is provided through the Alcohol-Substance Addiction Research, Therapy and Education Centres (AMATEMs) and psychiatric clinics of public hospitals. Opioid substitution treatment (OST) exist since 2010. Harm reduction services are non-existent, but they claim that if the numbers keep growing, they will turn more to harm reduction services.

Drug possession is crime. Those who violated the law can choose to go to prison or treatment. In 2014, number of imprisoned persons in Turkey was 167.308, and estimation for 2016 are that it will raise to more than 180.000 people. Green Crescent advocates that possession will no longer be a crime.

AMATAM creative workshop

In one of the Amatams, we met with Dr. Rabia Bilici explained that they are treating in their centre a variety of patients: children, adolescents and adults. Opiate users are often probation clients. Staff includes doctors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, professional orientation, all equally involved in work. They use suboxone in their treatments.

The Counselling centre (YEDAM) is a Green Crescent institution in a neighbourhood of Istanbul. The centre provides information and social and psychological support to individuals and families who face problems with alcohol and drugs. The centre is a new established institution that started working in 2015. A second centre was opened in 2016. Ms Gülsüm Melike Şimşek director of the centre informed us about their work. The centre fulfills an essential task in preventive and protecting services. The modern facilities of the centre, the information leaflets and the professional approach to drug use and addiction make a very good impression.

BEMEV (Bağımlılığı Engelleme Mücadele ve Eğitim Vakfı) is an initiative of scholars and professionals in the field of Alcohol and drugs who are working as volunteers for the aims of the foundation. The foundation is focusing on preventive activities, organises lectures and open public discussions, publishes brochures with information and is advocating for a consistent national strategy. Their main concern is the youth. They are promoting the idea that education about addictive substances in schools is necessary and contributes essentially in preventing young people to use drugs.

We had an interesting discussion with a number of young men and women of the Narcotics Anonymous group in Istanbul. NA have 18 different meeting points in the city. They pointed out that one of the main problems they face is the communication with the police and the bad experience they have with police approach of drug users. Another important issue that they face is the lack of recognition of their group by the responsible authorities; they have ideas how to deal with addiction, but are not consulted. They stressed the importance of the self- support, the free choice and the personal responsibility of their members.

BAYEV started in 2014 as a rehabilitation initiative in one of the municipalities of Istanbul. We met in their office with Ms Nurşah Alagöz and a staff member. They are helping people with drug addiction problems. In our discussion, they pointed out that the issue of drug use and addiction is only recently recognized as a social problem. They claim that 600 people died from overdose in 2016 and that number of users raised to 2 million. Drugs are problem of the young generation.

With young activists of Bayder

BAYDER is an organisation that conducts faith-based prevention and rehabilitation activities. We met with Dr Mustafa Kemal Özsoy the leader of the organisation and had afterwards a discussion with the coordinator of the project and members of the group that is in treatment. The initiative started 3 years ago. The treatment they receive is free and strongly based on mutual support and the good relationship with the family. The recovery program is an essential part of the activities.

The Human resource and development Foundation is a leading non-profit, non- governmental organization in Turkey established in 1988. The aim of the foundation is to promote reproductive health and family planning education, information, training and services as well as the empowerment of the human resource. They have, during the past period, developed and implemented projects including Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS. The attitude of the Turkish government towards the work in the field of STI’s, HIV and AIDS is rather reserved. The National HIV Committee haven’t had a meeting for 8 years! Turkey has transitioned from Global Fund support to a government-supported program. Number of infected grows – in 2015 there were 2.500 new cases registered. Unfortunately the Human resource and development Foundation is not any more involved in the field, of HIV/AIDS and drugs, but is open to contacts with our organisations and willing to help with advice where they can.

Social Policies, Gender Sexual orientation studies Association (SPoD) is a national non-governmental LGBT organization in Turkey, founded in 2011. The Association works for equality and human rights (economic, legal, political) for LGBT people. Although the Association does refer to drugs as an area of their work we met with Neçip Varan who is very well informed about drugs, drug dependence and Harm reduction. Naçip has a rich experience in the field of drugs due to work that he has done in several countries. Drugs and HIV/AIDS is also an issue in the LGBT population and SPoD is interested in this this field. SPoD participates in the regional project of the EU that is developing and implementing a similar initiative of co-operation of organisations in SEE like our Drug Policy Network SEE.

The visit of December was a good start of our relationship with Turkish institutions and non-governmental organisation. These were three very interesting days establishing contacts and speaking with people with whom we can co-operate in the future.