ECAD in cooperation with KSAN and Belarussian NGO Mothers Against Drugs starts a new prevention project for women in Belarus. The project aims at developing early and effective prevention measures for girls and women. We also focus on assisting our partners with knowledge and scientifically proven research to help women in crisis situations. Minsk is a signatory member of ECAD since 2010.

In order to plan activities for 2014, KSAN and ECAD visited our partners in Minsk at the end of March and have now 3 prevention trainings planned for the coming 4 months, with a focus on young girls, pregnant women, social workers/coordinators at schools and youth leaders. While in Minsk, our group joined a national TV talk-show on the dangers of Spice that took lives of 9 teenagers in just a couple of months. Belarussian society is staggered by the news and the police, addiction specialists, rectors, parents and students demonstrate a variety of reactions regarding this cheap deadly alternative to cannabis. Young students who died were barely 14 years old, came from socially positive environment and were absolutely sure that a non-listed substance, a "fake" drug, could NOT harm their healthy bodies.

According to Eurobarometer from 2011, new psychoactive substances had been tried at least once by circa 5% of young people in the EU. In Ireland this number is 16%, while in Poland, Latvia and Great Britain it is almost 10%. The sheer demand for support to parents and teachers revealed lots of gaps in prevention methodology and a strong will of Mothers Against Drugs to capitalize on the best practices available to ECAD and KSAN.  We are looking forward to exciting work together!

 
(Left to right: Britt Fredenman, Leena Harakè, Åke Setrèus, Iryna Lukyanovich and Janina Romanova)

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