In February this year, ECAD was nominated by the Swedish government and the Pompidou group of the Council of Europe to take part in a two-module training session on NPS (New Psychoactive Substances). The permanent correspondents of the Member States of the Council of Europe chose the topic this year, which underlines the significance of NPS as an issue on the world map of drug policy.
25 countries were represented at the first module of this training that was held in Haifa,  Israel. Israeli Anti-Drug Authority (IADA) hosted the training and the focus is on NPS demand reduction.

A lot of new prevention and intervention techniques were shared with the participating group and the user`s perspective was provided. A stress on the global approach when choosing the intervention and the control over the risks of the NPS use were underscored by the organizers.

ECAD was interested in defining the NPS user groups in order to tailor the prevention tactiques and to learn more about alternative legal responses and the legislative initiatives of Israel seem quite unique.
The challenges of detecting and identifying the NPS are still the same for the police and the health sector, while the number of users with double diagnoses is growing.

The discussions of what was innovative in the Israeli approach to prevention and intervention with the NPS use patterns are of great value for ECAD. We look forward to continue with the second training module this May in Alicante, Spain.

Contact us if you find this topic interesting for your city and we will be happy to share the latest info with you.

---