DPNSEE Archives - Page 17 of 18 - Drug Policy Network SEE

Issue of drug during the summer tourist season

Posted on 19/07/2016 by Milutin

The Ministry of health of Montenegro hosted the Regional Workshop on Drug Supply and Demand
Reduction During the Summer Tourist Season, organised by the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission. The Workshop was held in Podgorica on 7 and 8 July 2016.

The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen capacities of Police and Anti-Drugs Services in the Western Balkans and Turkey on drug supply and demand reduction during the summer tourist season, especially at large events such as music festivals. A report from the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) on travel and drug use in Europe notes that certain travel destinations across Europe have a reputation of having a wide availability of a range of drugs; these include party locations, electronic music festivals and the nightlife scene on certain Mediterranean islands. This is very interesting now, when the festival tourism is the fastest growing tourist branch, especially in the Southeast Europe.
Participating countries included Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and theFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Guest speakers came from Belgium, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. From the Montenegrin side, all for most active NGOs participated, including DPNSEE member organisations 4Life and Juventas and Cazas and Preporod. The Executive Director of DPNSEE participated for one day, sharing experiences and establishing contacts with a variety of participants.

The Workshop was an interesting platform for sharing of best practices and exchanging of knowledge with Experts from EU Member States on effective tools for reducing drug supply and demand. The thing which left a specific impression was the completely opposite positions: restrictive one of state agents (policy, anti-drug services, prosecutors) and pro-active one of the non-governmental organisations. Also, it is a pity that representatives from big festivals were not invited to share their experiences (“Sundance” being prepared at the time of the workshop).

International Symposium “Towards Changes”

Posted on 13/07/2016 by Milutin

On the occasion of 26 June – the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the Special Hospital for Substance Abuse in Belgrade, Serbia, organised the international Symposium “Towards Changes” on 16 and 17 June. Topics included changes of trends in drug use, organising a network of institutions that provide treatment to addicts, including private medical services and local communities and prospective of further development of clubs for cured alcoholics and gamblers. Besides local medical experts, guests came from Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, FYRO Macedonia and Montenegro. Keynote speaker was Mr Antti Jearventaus from Finland who presented his work on use of Internet in fighting drugs, prevention and addiction treatment.

Irena Molnar, representing her NGO ReGeneracija and the DPNSEE Office (the only one from the NGO sector), was invited to participate in the open table dialogue with representatives from the region and to speak about involvement and use of resources of local community and organizations of civil society in resolving drug addiction.

Irena met and established contacts with many participants from different countries. Most important were those with Serbian Director of the Office for combating drugs, the Focal point and Office for monitoring of Ministry of Health, referring to EMCDDA and Director of the Special hospital for addictions. She presented DPNSEE and announced visits that we shall pay to countries of the Western Balkans.

A good insight in the Montenegrin drug policy situation

Posted on 08/07/2016 by Milutin

160701 Visit to Montenegro photo 3 — Distribution of methadone in the Methadone centre Podgorica

Representatives of the Drug policy network South East Europe visited Montenegro from 28 June to 1 July 2016. The delegation included Denis Dedajić, member of the Board, Milutin Milošević, Executive Director and representatives of two local member organisations Tijana Žegura from Juventas and Saša Mijović from NGO 4 Life.

Purpose of the visit was to present DPNSEE to the Montenegrin society and build strong relationships with the authorities, institutions and services. Aims included establishing contacts and exploring possibilities for cooperation with authorities and various institutions, understanding Montenegrin model of functioning of structures for participation of civil society in decision making and identifying models for improvement, supporting member organisations in their work and contacts with authorities, institutions and services, issue of supporting (young) people on festivals and in clubbing and meetings with NGOs, especially potential new members of the Network.

The delegation held a large number of meetings including authorities and institutions: Minister for Labour and Social Wellfare, National Committee for Drugs, Public Health Institute, Sektor za suzbijanje krijumčarenja droga u Upravi policije (drug abuse prevention department in the Ministry of interior), KPZ Spuž (largest state prison), Special psychiatric hospital Dobrota, Metadonski program održavanja opijatskih zavisnika (methadone centre), Terapijska zajednica Kakaricka gora (therapeutic community), Kamp raseljenih lica sa Kosova na Koniku (Kosovo refugees centre). Besides our member organisations, good and constructive meetings were held with NGOs including Cazas, Preporod and Narcotics Anonymous.

The most positive impression from the visit is that most of the authorities and institution value very high the work of the NGOs and underline that they are the ones who have a direct contact with drug users which is an excellent channel for accessing them. The most challenging is that many actors in the field of drugs are working hard but that there is no efficient system that should coordinate their efforts in an effective way.

Featured Photo: Meeting with Mr. Boris Marić, Minister for Labour and Social Wellfare

2nd DPNSEE Board Meeting

Posted on 08/07/2016 by Milutin

The second Board meeting of the Drug Policy Network South East Europe was held in Thessaloniki, Greece on the 2nd of June 2016 just before the Conference “Drug policy after the UNGASS 2016” organised by our member organisation Diogenis.

The Board welcomed three organisations and proposes to the General Assembly to recognise them as full members of the Network: Aktion Plus from Albania, Juventas from Montenegro and Centre for Life from Greece. The Board also welcomed staff members of the newly established office in Belgrade who presented themself to the members of the Board.

The meeting then continued towards ways the Code of Conduct, that will define management policies and procedures in DPNSEE will be designed. The Staff will prepare the draft of the document that will be adopted at the Third Board Meeting. In addition, the Board was discussing Strategy of the Network for the period 2016 – 2019. The working meeting of the Board will be organised in late August in FYRO Macedonia where the Strategy will be shaped in detail.

Members of the Board alongside with Staff discussed and updated the Action plan for 2016 and agreed on the timeframe of the country visits that are planned for this year. The Board also brainstormed possibilities of fundraising needed for the future activities of the Network. Organisation of the General Assembly, planned for late autumn will be at the agenda of the next Board Meeting in August.

Foundation of Drug Policy Network in South East Europe (DPNSEE)

Posted on 30/10/2015 by Milutin

Thirteen non-governmental organizations of the SEE region founded the Umbrella Organization “Drug Policy Network in South East Europe”. The organization acquired legal status by registering in the register of the competent authority (Business Registers Agency) in Belgrade. The organization is called in English “Drug Policy Network South East Europe” with the abbreviation DPNSEE. The registration of the network as a legal entity was one of the main objectives of the project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human rights oriented drug policy in South East Europe”. Founding members of the DPNSEE are 13 organizations from SEE countries: Aktion Plus (Albania), Margina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Viktorija (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Healthy Options Skopje (HOPS), (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Diogenis ( Greece), Positive Voice (Greece), Center for Life (Greece), NGO 4life (Montenegro), Juventas (Montenegro), RHRN (Romania), ALIAT (Romania), Prevent (Serbia) and SEEA.NET (Slovenia).

The DPNSEE will be responsible for coordinating the Network. The Board of the organization consists of 7 members elected by the general meeting of the members which is the Network’s highest decision-making body. The founding General Assembly elected the first Board and approved the action plan for 2016.

Priorities for 2016 are:

1. Strengthening the organizational structure and governance of the Network

2. The organization of the office and staff recruitment

3. The tightening of links with the state authorities, institutions and agencies responsible for implementing the drug policy in SE Europe countries and

4. The implementation of initiatives and actions in specific priority areas, such as:

a) Harm reduction and treatment programs

b) Drug law reform in collaboration with the scientific community

c) Developments in drug policy in the EU and internationally and the involvement of NGOs in decision making

d) Capacity building through training opportunities for members of the Network

e) Networking through the media, communication with the press and the DPNSEE website

Meeting of the Drug Policy Network in SEE in Novi-Sad 6-8 July 2015

Posted on 16/07/2015 by Milutin

From 6 to 8 July, representatives of the organizations, that are members of the informal Drug Policy Network in South East Europe met in Novi Sad (Serbia) to discuss about establishing an umbrella organization with a legal status, building on the informally established Drug Policy Network.

The meeting started with a presentation by Ilina Nesik, representative of the Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) informing the meeting about the experience of the BCSDN in its development since 2001. The Balkan Civil Society Development network is a regional sectoral network consisting of 15 member organizations, from 10 different countries of the Balkan region. It started, in the first phase, as a 3-year pilot programme (2001-2003) functioned in the second phase (2003-2008) as an informal Network and became a formalized network in the third phase (2008-2011). Ilina Nesik referred to the vision and mission of the organization, the strategic goals, the membership (eligibility criteria and the procedure to become a member) as well as the initiatives/activities of the organization. Special reference was made to the monitoring Matrix, a unique tool for monitoring the enabling environment for civil society development. During the discussion that followed the presentation, several questions have been raised about the membership especially concerning the distinction between consultative and member status, the governance, management and organization structure and the independent status of the organization.

This presentation has been followed by an introduction by Thanasis Apostolou, who outlined the development of Drug Policy Network in South East Europe and presented the project to create the umbrella organization with a legal status. Consequently, the meeting decided about the name of the new organization, which remained Drug Policy Network in South East Europe. The meeting decided to establish an independent organization, not linked to one of the existing Network’s organizations. The location of the umbrella organization will be the city of Skopje. The meeting decided to meet again on 31 of August to 3 September in Belgrade. Every organization of the Network will be represented in Belgrade by one person. The Belgrade meeting will be the constituent assembly of the new umbrella organization.