Durres Archives - Drug Policy Network SEE

Promotional activities of the “Support. Don’t Punish“ campaign in Albania

Posted on 03/07/201903/07/2019 by Milutin

The main activity was the awareness day in occasion of 26th of June, in Durrës. Since the major part of the population is in summer holidays, Aksion plus planned to organize a big event in Durres, in the beach, among vacationers. For this event they strongly collaborated with Caritas, informing at the beginning their 50 young volunteers and on 26th they went together and distributed information among people. Firstly, a big banderol “Support. Don’t Punish” with key message on drug policy was posted in the seaside, in order for the vacationers to see and to understand what this activity was about. The day continued with the distribution of the brochures, leaflets and posters of the campaign. All the volunteers and staff were wearing T-shirt with the message “Support. Don’t Punish”. It was an excited day for young volunteers, to say “no” to the discrimination toward these target groups.

On June 26, 2019, in one of the main streets in the city of Tirana, a drug information campaign was developed together with the SALUS clinic. This activity consisted in the distribution of brochures and leaflets for the purpose of informing the population in the framework of the “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign.

Have a look at the video from the activities below

Global Day of Action- Support. Don't Punish!

Support. Don’t Punish is a global grassroots-centred initiative in support of harm reduction and drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights. The campaign seeks to put harm reduction on the political agenda by strengthening the mobilisation capacity of affected communities and their allies, opening dialogue with policy makers, and raising awareness among the media and the public.The Support. Don’t Punish campaign aligns with the following key messages:-The drug control system is broken and in need of reform-People who use drugs should no longer be criminalised-People involved in the drug trade at low levels, especially those involved for reasons of subsistence or coercion, should not face harsh or disproportionate punishments-The death penalty should never be imposed for drug offences-Drug policy should focus on health, well-being and harm reduction-Drug policy budgets need rebalancing to ensure health and harm reduction-based responses are adequately financed.#Supportdontpunish #aksionplus #globaldayofaction #26ofJune

Gepostet von Aksion Plus am Donnerstag, 27. Juni 2019

You can find more about the campaign activities recently held in Albania at the news following this link>>>

A month of Support. Don’t Punish activities in Albania

Posted on 23/06/201924/06/2019 by Milutin

Our Albanian colleagues from the organisation Aksion Plus organised a sensitization campaign in the cities of Durres and Tirana in May and June 2019 as their contribution to the Support. Don’t Punish campaign.

On 9 May, a workshop was organized with the students of “5 October” High School. This workshop consisted in informing young people about drug use based on Aksion Plus’s many years of experience in providing services, awareness campaigns focusing on drug use as well as publishing of informative materials. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement. Additionally, a presentation by some of the school youth about their knowledge of the phenomenon of drug use was presented.

The focus of the meeting held on 16 May in the University of New York was the discussion with prospective professionals on issues that affect the reality of drug users, HIV / AIDS, giving special importance to prevention and damage reduction policies. These realities are already noticeably tangible in every part of society. Also discussed about the “Support, Don’t Punish” campaign.

This workshop in the High school “Charles Telford Erickson” held on 23 May consisted in informing students about drug use based on Aksion Plus’s many years of experience in providing services: Methadone Maintenance Therapy, Psychological Counselling, HIV Testing, Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, Syphilis, Hep B, Hep C and awareness campaigns. It was presented a video. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement.

This workshop in the High school “Gramoz Palushi”, including 4 representatives of Caritas Albania, was held on 14 June. A video was presented. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement. The goal was to involve all students in an interactive way. At the end of the workshop, some space was left for their questions, comments about what was discussed, and what suggestions they had about future workshops.

Albania joined Support. Don’t Punish

Posted on 30/06/2017 by Milutin

For the first time this year, Aksion Plus joined the “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign. In this framework, they organized an awareness campaign for two weeks, arranging different meetings, focus groups with the drug users related to human rights protection, what tools they can use to advocate for their rights and increase the access toward social, health and legal public services. One of the activities was the “Photo campaign” where we invited different stakeholders to make a photo with the poster of the campaign “Support, Don’t Punish”, such as decision making representatives and service providers of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, Probation Service Institution, Public Health institutions, Ombudsman, social workers, psychologists, volunteers; very known artists in TV and famous Albanian singers; service beneficiaries, such as MMT, sex workers, LGBT and Roma community members.

The main activity was the awareness day in occasion of 26th of June, in Durrës. Since most of the population is in summer holidays, Aksion Plus organized a big event on the beach, among vacationers. For this event they closely collaborated with Caritas Albania, informing at the beginning their 50 young volunteers and on 26th the two organisations went together and distributed information among people. At the beginning of the activity, a big banderol with the logo “Support. Don’t Punish” was placed in an open place with key message on drug policy, in order for the passers-by to see and to understand what this activity was about.

Various local TV stations were invited (Top Channel Durrës, A1 Report). The director of Aksion Plus, Mr. Genci Mucollari, gave an interview on the aim of this day and activity. He called for all responsible institutions and decision makers’ involvement in injecting drug users’ human rights and access toward service provision. He gave some messages to general population, to say “no” to the discrimination toward these target-groups.

The day continued with the distribution of the brochures, leaflets and posters of the campaign. All the volunteers and staff was wearing T-shirt and hats with the message “Support. Don’t Punish”. It was an exciting day for young volunteers and they managed to distribute more than 2000 IEC materials. More than 1500 existing and new brochures/leaflets were provided to other A+ centres.

This activity and other A+ news and information were widely covered through social networks. It had a good impact on the Facebook public, especially pictures with artists and politicians.

IDPC and DPNSEE was step by step posted and informed with written statements and pictures from these activities.