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Category: News

Published: 05 September 2016

ECAD member, the city of Gävle, hosts Swedish National Fair "Sverige mot narkotika" this week, September 7-8. The Fair is a platform for taking an offensive stance against the use of drugs among Swedish policy makers, NGOs and the public. ECAD is one of the organizers, together with the city of Gävle and 18 other NGOs - proponents of sober and drug-free lifestyle.
This event gathers lots of key drug policy officials in Sweden and some prominenet guests coming from abroad, journalists and public are welcome to join at the Open Scene for free.

This year`s Fair circle around Swedish and Norwegian drug policy specifics. We will also talk in English about Effective Community-based prevention when Sue Thau, public Policy Consultant at Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), USA arrives to Gävle these days.


Welcome to visit ECAD website in Swedish here


"Sverige mot narkotika" Programme in Swedish (PDF)


 

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Category: News

Published: 31 August 2016

Picture: EMCDDA

98 new synthetic cannabinoids came to surface and were registered in 2015. European monitoring agency for drugs and drug addiction (EMCDDA) sees no decline in the availability of new drugs on the internet market.

A growing number of NPS in Europe puts a significant pressure on the capacities of the forensic laboratories in the countries affected. Synthetic cannabinoids and opioids are also considered to be more toxic, having caused mass poisonings and deaths.

In addition to that, NPS – producers target a rather vulnerable sector of non-controlled synthetic opioids, fentanyls and suchlike, raising concerns on the medicines diverted from therapeutic providers and synthetic opioid products used for substitution treatment in some countries, according to the European Drug Report 2016.

ECAD is organizing the 3^rd  project conference Synthetic opioids and cannabinoids – a growing challenge for the region on Thursday, November 3. The conference will be angling Swedish specifics in the field of synthetic opioids. The plan is also to look closer at Latvian and Estonian drug markets in regards to synthetic opioids and to finalize our project findings.

Download the details in our Conference Announcement here (PDF).

To register for the Conference, you need to fill in and send back the Booking form (Word) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before October 28.

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Category: News

Published: 15 August 2016

ECAD have been involved in the Triple R project work this summer. On Monday of June 27, all Triple R project organizations came together in San Patrignano Recovery Community for 4 days, after past meetings around Europe, for the conclusion of the first phase of the project work.

"After discussions on the merits of the project we focused on the writing of three "R-manuals", - explains Sara Carrena, the project coordinator. "A handbook on Rehabilitation will be compiled in close cooperation by all project partners, another project book will focus on Reintegration and the third handbook will be on alternative measures to incarceration. In addition to this, we will be making a video on the involved recovery organization work, all aimed at promoting the best practices in recovery. At a later date we will complete a feasibility study in the hopes of opening a new pilot project in Croatia".


8 communities and organizations took part in the working group: Dianova (Spain), Popov GGZ (Belgium), ECAD (Sweden), Basta (Sweden), Stjerna (Croatia), Udruga Institut Pula (Croatia), Udruga San Patrignano Association Parents Split (Croatia)and Ceis in Rome.

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Details

Category: News

Published: 09 August 2016

Meet the new Chairman of ECAD, (MD) Viggo Lütcherath. 





Hi. My name is Viggo Lütcherath and I am a 54 year old man and new chairman of the board for ECAD. I am married and have four children. I have known ECAD for some years during my political work in the Board of Health and Social Services in my hometown Kristiansand in Norway, where I represent the Christian Democratic Party.

My interest in drug policy comes from my professional work as a medical doctor specialised in Paediatrics at the public hospital in Kristiansand where I also work as a Senior Consultant.  For many years I have seen new born babies suffering from abstinence due to their mother’s drug abuse. These babies inspire me to be part of the work to build drug-free societies. There are many ways to do that and the road is long. But it is important, just like in traffic, to set a zero vision of no one killed or suffering from drug abuse. It is an ambitious and important vision.

The fact that the legal "drug industry" is using a lot of money and manpower to legalise and enlarge drug markets further convinces me that governments, cities and communities must unite to address their drug problems. One of the most pressing challenges for our European Cities is to counteract the legalization of cannabis. More and more new knowledge about the dangers of cannabis is available. ECAD can be a channel to spread this knowledge.

It is our imperative to continuously prevent young people from start using drugs, to counteract legalization and to spread knowledge on the health consequences of using illicit drugs. I hope even more cities will find the ECAD network useable as a platform. If we work together, we can be more powerful and inspire each other to make good decisions based on solid knowledge. ECAD is, and will continue to be, a network of European towns that stand together and inspire each other to continuously fight drug abuse and build drug free societies.

I look forward to be in charge of ECAD and look forward to work together with all the good people in ECAD.