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Category: News

Published: 21 March 2017

Last week ECAD was working in Vienna, participating at the 60th Session of the Commission on Narcotic drugs at the UN.
Among the side events we co-organized, some special attention was devoted to the successfull work in the cities that take part in the Youth in Europe Project.



In cooperation with the Government of Iceland, Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis, and IOGT International,  two ECAD cities, Riga and Kaunas, highlighted their experience in working with drug use among adolescents.
Cities are the key in implementing the obligations of preventing drug use set up in the UN General Assembly outcome document and the UN drug conventions. A comprehensive use of data on youth life styles and behaviour helps city practitioners to identify local and specific risk and protective factors to guide the cities` interventions on youth. Cities that take actions based on sound data can substantially decrease the levels of adolescent substance use and other unwanted social behaviour.

Background

The presentations of Riga and Kaunas in Vienna were set against the background of the Icelandic research that dates back to 1998.
In 1998, substance use amongst adolescents in Iceland measured the highest in comparison with all the European countries. In 2015 substance use amongst Icelandic adolescents plummeted to the lowest in Europe. The improvement in substance use is the result of a concerted and in science well-grounded action that can be replicated elsewhere.


General discussion and points raised

·         Cities use data differently, some cities work actively with suicide prevention;

·         Some cites see reduction in tobacco and alcohol use but not in cannabis use. Why this was the case, turned into a vivid discussion in Vienna;

·         It is important to have a comprehensive strategy to address both licit and illicit drug use;

·         Difficulties in importing the model from Iceland.


Recommendations

·         Cities should adopt evidence based primary prevention as a basis for their actions on drugs.

·         National legislation should be grounded in evidence and experience gained from evidence based primary prevention.

·         Member states and civil society need to hear that prevention does work when conducted properly.



Further reading on the Icelandic research

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Details

Category: News

Published: 27 February 2017

As a co-partner of the Triple R project, ECAD is going to participate in 2 events planned for the next month, in Vienna at the CND, and in Brussels, open for the public.The project partners have been working on the handbooks for a long while and are now ready to present the results.
Our focus in March is on highlighting the publications on successful rehabilitation, social reintegration and justice intervention practices in the EU.

We will start by organizing a side event at the upcoming United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, presenting the Triple R project at Vienna International Center on Monday, March 13, between 1:10-2:00pm.

The event is meant as an introduction to the Triple R Project and will feature the highlights in the 3 thematic areas, presenting the conclusions of the Triple R publications on the subject.

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A week after this presentation, the project partners will provide further knowledge in Brussels, illustrating the project results aimed at the successful rehabilitation of drug users.
EU decision makers, NGOs and the public working in the field are welcome to join us on March 20, at the House of Norway in Brussels, Belgium for a half-day seminar.

This event will provide an overview of the rehabilitation and reinsertion models of interventions offered by the Triple R partner organizations.

DATE and TIME: March 20, at 13.30 - 16.00
PLACE: Norway House, Rue Archimede 17, 1000 Brussels.
SEMINAR: Rehabilitation for Recovery and Reinsertion in the EU
Triple R Project on effective rehabilitation models and alternative sentencing

Moderator: Erik Leijonmarck, Secretary General, ECAD

• Welcome coffee
• Setting the scene for the Triple R project,
Elisa Rubini, Deputy Head International Relations, San Patrignano Community, Italy

• How to ensure efficient rehabilitation of drug users: presenting a Manual on drug Rehabilitation
Elisa Rubini, Deputy Head International Relations, San Patrignano Community, Italy

• Movie on Rehabilitation in Practice, 30 min.

• Presenting a Handbook on Justice Intervention and alternatives to incarceration for drug abuse offenders
Alphonse Franssen, Popov GGZ, Care Coordinator, Substance Abuse, East Flanders, and Coordinator/ Liason, Drug Court, Ghent, Belgium

• Presenting a Manual on social reintegration of recovered drug users,
Kristina Blixt, Project Coordinator, Basta Community, Sweden

• Project next steps: Feasibility and Pilot Study in Croatia,
Antonio Molina, Triple Project Evaluator

Please register to participate before March 15, 2017 - send us an email with your details (Name, City, Position, contact details) : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.




We look forward to meeting in Vienna and Brussels!

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Category: News

Published: 13 January 2017

ECAD enters 2017 with a tight schedule while working with the Triple R Project - we are planning launching of the RRR project handbooks in Brussels on Monday, March 20, at 14.00 - 17.00 (to be confirmed).
The seminar at the CoR will disseminate effective rehabilitation models based on the EU Therapeutic Communities`best practices and alternative sentencing.

Project products will come with the rehabilitation of drug users in focus; three manuals will be presented: a Handbook on Justice Intervention, a handbook on reintegration and a manual on how to ensure efficient rehabilitation of drug users.This stage of the RRR project will underscore the importance of stability in European societies, promoting cooperation in the EU, especially in the areas of security, justice and social integration.

Our project partners in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Croatia will showcase their experience in a movie.

Please contact ECAD if you want to participate at this seminar in Brussels and obtain our project products for free: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Category: News

Published: 24 November 2016

This year’s ECAD study visit to San Patrignano WeFree days gathered some 35 participants, from Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Sweden.

The WeFree days is yearly event joined by 2,500 young participants from all over Italy and Europe, organized by San Patrignano, Europe’s largest rehabilitation community. Founded in 1978, the community helps young people from all walks of life to overcome histories of drug abuse and addiction. San Patrignano hosts nearly 1,500 young people, and has since its founding assisted over 30,0000 people.
The WeFree days gather experts and practitioners to raise awareness on the drug problem, emphasizing the importance of community service in the rehabilitation process.

The theme of the two main WeFree forums was Drugs and Violence – looking at drugs at the root of criminal systems and violent acts, ranging from terrorism to domestic violence.

In his key-note speech, Ahmad Alhendawi, United Nation’s Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, praised the San Patrignano model and its emphasis on social and community values in the rehabilitation process. ”The issue of drug use among young people is a real one, and the way San Patrignano is tackling it shows that when young people a given an opportunity, they can empower themselves and contribute to their communities,” Alhendawi said.

Among other speakers, we heard a strong presentation from Nicola Gratteri, Public Prosecutor and Magistrate in the frontlines of the war against Calabrian mafia organisation Ndrangheta, and living under police protection since 1989. He described Ndrangheta as the only ”globalized” mafia, operating in all five continents and claimed to have a revenue of McDonald’s and Deutsche Bank combined.

At the other end of the scale was Roberta Bruzzoni, criminologist, expert in forensic science and advisor to Telefono Rosa, (a helpline for victims of abuse against women and children), who through her work sees at first hand the results of often drug-induced domestic violence.

In connection with this year’s visit, the ECAD group also had a seminar on ”New Psychoactive Substances, synthetic opioids and Cannabinoids – A challenge for Europe?” with experts from Sweden (Kristina Hillgren) and Italy (Rita Santacroce). This was done within the framework of the ongoing Spice Alert Project in the Baltic Sea region and as a way of expanding the discussions` geography of the of NPS.

Many thanks to San Patrignano community for their hospitality on receiving us!

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