 European Research Network on Illicit Drugs, ERANID, launched Rome, May 7th
ERANID, the European Research Area Network on Illicit Drugs, a project funded by the European Union, has been launched. It can be considered as a first fundamental step towards long-term co-operation in the field of scientific research on illicit drugs. The development of shared priorities for research on illicit drugs and the funding of joint research projects in this field are the main objectives of this project.
With the development of a Strategic Research Agenda, based on existing evidence and a common understanding of priorities, ERANID will increase the knowledge of both drug demand and supply issues and their complex relationship. The project operates mainly in the field of socio-economic sciences and humanities and aims to strengthen and widen the network of research programmes and participants. Closer co-operation amongst researchers of different European and other countries may lead to further development in research techniques and the effective evaluation of policy strategies and innovative programmes. Disseminating the results of the acquired knowledge will support policy decisions and actions.
The participating countries are Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The project, which will last for four years, will also collaborate closely with two important organisations: the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. The coordinator of ERANID is ZonMw (The Netherlands).
This month ERANID will start the development of a Strategic Research Agenda for which we will ask the co-operation of stakeholders.
More information:
Website ERANID
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
ZonMw
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Recent news
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Announcement round table and gender workshop Cairo
On 13 and 14 May, the MedNET network of co-operation in the Mediterranean Region on Drugs and Drug Addiction will hold in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Mental Health in Egypt a round table on the development and implementation of drug policy. Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Justice, Medical Staff and NGOs will participate along with experts from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Malta in the discussions with the aim of setting up an Inter-Ministerial Advisory Body on drugs and drug Addiction. This round table is part of a project initiated and funded by Italy.
On 15 May, within the framework of the MedNET project aiming at offering gender-oriented social and health services to better meet the specific needs of female drug users, a gender workshop on substance dependent women will take place to present the results of a survey on substance abuse services for women and discuss it with experts from Italy and Malta. The objective is to set up the first public service for women in Egypt in collaboration with the Pompidou Group.
Both the round table and the gender project were initiated and funded by Italy.
The Pompidou Group and the co-operation with Egypt
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Medical and social professionals join forces to fight HIV/AIDS spread in Moldova and treat drug dependency
The training was highly appreciated by the Moldovan participants. 50 medical doctors (narcologists), psychologists, university lecturers and social workers representing both community and prisons attended the event which took place at a hotel in Vadul lui Voda (near Chisinau), on April 15-17 2013. The goal of the training was to develop a practical approach in addressing the needs of methadone patients. The participants practiced the case management method and working in teams in order to better motivate opiate users to enter methadone treatment. Moreover, with a purpose of fighting stereotypes about methadone substance specialists were introduced to evidence-based medical findings about the safety and effectiveness of Methadone in preventing drug abuse and transmission of HIV/ Hep C.
The training was jointly organised by the Council of Europe Pompidou Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Collaborating governmental partners were the Narcology Dispensary and the Department of Penitentiary Institutions. The non-governmental umbrella organisation “Positive Initiative” as well as the coordinators of the NGOs “New Life” and “Youth for the Right to Life” were actively involved in the organisation of the event.
United Nations Office on Drugs ans Crime (UNODC)
« Positive Initiative »
« New Life »
« Youth for the Right to Life »
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Focus
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Support for young female offenders at Melitopol (Ukraine)
Since November 2012 the Pompidou Group expert Alla Shut monitors the training-of-trainers (ToT) project at the Melitopol correctional institutions for female juvenile delinquents organised by the Dutch Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine and the Dutch Ministry of Justice.
Most of the inmates grew up in orphanages or come from families with serious social and health problems.
Often they started smoking, drinking and using psychoactive substances when they were very young.
Domestic violence had detrimental impact on their lives as adolescents.
This is why there is an urgent need to provide tool to the prison staff that will effectively help the incarcerated teenagers to get adequate care and attain the necessary life-skills needed for reintegration and adaptation in society.
Thus, the project aims at preventing drug usage, providing life skills training, supporting resocialisation and re-insertion in society.
Three Dutch experts under the guidance of the project leader Robert Suvaal investigated the needs and developed together with 20 local specialists a practical educational training course.
The fourth and last meeting of the ToT project will take place 30-31 of May 2013.
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The Pompidou Group goes social media
The Pompidou Group was founded in 1971 at the initiative of the late French President Georges Pompidou. From then on the Group has gained more and more importance. Today, we are still finding ways to get the public’s attention. And this is where marketing steps in. But as the environment is constantly changing, so we need to adapt to every situation. Social media has acquired a massive audience the past decade, which has proved a big opportunity for many companies and organizations. That’s why we think it is time for us to explore online platforms that spread our work. From now on the public can make contact with the Pompidou Group and ask as many questions as they want. These platforms give them the opportunity to access the Group’s information if they wish and to follow in all the activities we carry out. Another great advantage for the Pompidou Group is that each person who reads our posts has the capability of spreading our work, also referred to as word-of-mouth marketing. This has proved to be very efficient and we as a team will do our best to satisfy our visitors with interesting and up-to-date information.
Check them out here:
Facebook page
Twitter account
Youtube channel
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Other news
How to measure coherent policies on psychoactive substances: a research in constant evolution?
The aim of this activity, priority of the work programme 2011-2014 is to identify effective approaches of coherent policies for licit and illicit drugs.
Policy-makers and/or researchers from 12 countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Belgium, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Republic and Switzerland and EMCDDA are part of a working group which objective is to develop, refine and test indicators/markers in participating countries to verify whether they provide a valid tool for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of a coherent policy on psychoactive substances. The next step is to hold in each country discussion workshops/focus groups with different stakeholders to fill in the diagnostic tool (set of different markers) for the licit and illicit substances policies.
The background of the activity is the three publications: link to each one of them.
“From a policy on illegal drugs to a policy on psychoactive substances” in 2008
“Towards an integrated policy on psychoactive substances: a theoretical and empirical analyses” in 2010
“Reflections on the concept of coherency for a policy on psychoactive substances and beyond” in 2012
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All news |
May
9-11, Budapest
Executive training 2013 - Needs assessment seminar
13-14, Cairo
MedNET - Round Table n◦3
15, Cairo
MedNET Gender workshop
28-29, Strasbourg
72th meeting of the Permanent Correspondents
Agenda 2013
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