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Category: News

Published: 03 November 2011

October 26-28, ECAD Director Jörgen Svidén was invited to the Khanti Mansiysk region in Siberia, Russia, and the city of Nizhnevartovsk. The visit emanated from the political will of Khanti Mansiysk region to have closer connections to other European cities, to learn about successful prevention practices and to exchange well-proven experience with counterparts in other countries.

When looking for a platform to do this, ECAD was chosen as a bridge to administrative contacts and best practice base for Khanti Mansiysk region. ECAD appreciates this well-thought initiative very much.

The visit contained an informative lecture on ECAD activities, with mayors, practitioners and high officials from different cities of the region present, as well as fruitful and long discussions. During this short visit there was also time for several study visits and an agreement signing between a Mayor of Nizhnevartovsk and the city`s pharmacies, in order to make them aware of the importance of restrictive approach when selling products containing narcotic substances.

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Category: News

Published: 01 November 2011

Prevention means a great deal. To young people, their families, the police, practitioners, policy makers, economists, governments and societies prevention is all about consequences and responsibilities each and everyone has for their lives.

To mark the significance of prevention for drug policy strategies, ECAD joins the biggest rehabilitation community in the world, San Patrignano, to celebrate conscious life choices, for a life free from drugs. In this spirit SanPatrignano community annually draws attention to prevention using unconventional ways. Dance, knowledge and shows are used to convey the message of awareness and responsibility, involving schoolchildren and theatrical performances, alltogether at WeFree day.

To match with it, ECAD adds up with its own practical seminars, this October with a lecture on Swedish prevention practices and an investigation on Italian drug policy (download PDF-files below). 60 participants from 16 cities in 10 countries came to Riccione to be at ECAD seminar and WeFree day on October 15-16 this year. WeFree Forum speakers focused on the issue of medicalization of suffering, treating eating disorders, depression and psychological pain with new kinds of pills and drugs. This approach, identifying a vast part of society as “sick”, was openly criticized by Allen Frances, American Psychiatrist and Chair of the task force that created DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1994.

Beside that, experiences of WeFree Day included exploring a real cocaine laboratory, reconstructed in San Patrignano with a guidance of Columbian “Shared Responsibility” team, and a great deal of international projects to promote integration of young people. Lots of dance projects being a part of WeFree Hero (e.g.. Breakdance Uganda Project, rappers from Sociedad Real in Columbia, Transformers from Portugal, Skateistan from Afghanistan, training over 300 children in skating and literacy) were amazingly professional and meaningful.
Those of you who couldn´t come to SanPatrignano can download seminar materials from here, you are also most welcome to join the event next time!

 
"Perspectives on prevention. International outlooks" (PDF)
Anders Eriksson, Development Unit, Social Services Administration, City of Stockholm, Sweden

"Italian drug policy: a deep investigation" (PDF)
Fabio Bernabei, Journalist, Associazione Osservatorio Droga, Italy


Here are some pictures:

 

 









General information and preliminary programme (pdf-file)
ECAD thanks WeFree organizers and all seminar participants for coming to Rimini and sharing the experiences of these days that provide us with inspiration until we meet next year.

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Category: News

Published: 07 October 2011

October 6th and 7th ECAD takes part in Irish annual conference "Getting a grip 2011 : Substance misuse - a health or criminal issue?"

 The Conference takes place in Killarney and is open to members of the public. ECAD director Jörgen Svidén will make a presentation about the role of municipalities and team work of core actors in the prevention-treatment-rehabilitation chain of work.

Read more about the conference and view the programme here.

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Category: News

Published: 20 September 2011

On September 15-16 ECAD had a conference in Veliky Novgorod, Russia with the topic ”It works! Drug Prevention from an international perspective”. The Conference was organized in cooperation with the City of Veliky Novgorod and ECAD’s National Representative in Russia, Olga Vasilyeva.

In a couple of hours before the conference was launched, ECAD met Mayor of Veliky Novgorod, Yury Bobryshev, who regarded the topic of the conference actual, also on an international scale. The Mayor stated that drug addiction is a universal issue, where all parties should cooperate constructively to succeed.

Around 70 active participants, prevention researchers, sociologists, municipal officials, teachers, law enforcement officers and politicians from 5 Russian member cities and representatives from 10 interested non-member cities, also city administrative officials from Varna, Bulgaria took part.

Present ECAD cities in Russia expressed a wish of expanding and strengthening ECAD Russian branch.  This is based on the need coming from within the municipalities to prioritize prevention work and learn more about international best practice in this field. During 2 days´ conference, the participants discussed prevention strategies in theory and practice.

 Two internationally ranged studies were presented, ESPAD and Örebro comparative analysis of drug abuse patterns in Sweden and Russia.

Most of the speakers and discussions were channeled towards new and developing preventative programmes in Russia. These are not many today and are also mostly youth-oriented. Prevention programmes are still not a part of each school´s educational curriculum, only separate preventative lectures are introduced.

A lack of systemic solutions and educational basis within municipal drug policy coordination were regarded as obstacles by Russian prevention researchers. At the same time, many speakers stressed the significance of rehabilitation facilities. There are only 4 state rehabilitation centers officially registered in Russia, and circa 300 rehabilitation NGOs.

There is a need for legislative support on the federal level, introducing prevention as a part of legislative framework would step up municipal preventative initiatives in Russia, agreed many participants.

It was concluded that along with social, economic and media climate changes, a general public reaction and motivation towards altering behaviour should stimulate young minds, stressing positively oriented will and thinking. Similar risk and protection factors and situation development patterns in Veliky Novgorod and Swedish city of Örebro were distinguished in particular.

 Protection from group pressure, unorganized leisure time spent in the streets, mass media with its advertisements, sometimes sending an ambivalent message to the young are regarded as challenges and risk factors by teachers and sociologists. On the other hand, spending more time with parents, contract method as a conscious choice of health and sports, organized free time are viewed as positive factors.

ECAD is grateful to all engaged and skillful lecturers, among them Professor Natalya A. Sirota, Moscow Stomatology Institute, Professor Charli Eriksson, Orebro University and psychologist Natalya Antonova, St. Petersburg State University.

A Conference is often a finale of a lot of work carried out, a sort of a peak. A successful conference, on the contrary, is a birth and launch of new ideas, important contacts and projects.

It was obvious that the conference in Veliky Novgorod resulted in all these effects, as there were many fruitful discussions both during the questions times and at the breaks.
ECAD thank Veliky Novgorod and Olga Vasilyeva for making this Conference such an interesting event!