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Rehabilitation and Educational Centre Jegersberg i Kristiansand, Norway, slings its doors open for ECAD study visit early this summer.
It is a wonderful opportunity for ECAD members to visit a Rehabilitation centre that ECAD has been observing the formation of from the very beginning. Jegersberg has been influenced by San Patrignano Recovery community methodology but the Centre is very much adapted to the Norwegian style of life and culture.
Save 1st and 2nd of June in your calendar and join us at Jegersberg!
To take part in the study visit, please fill in the Booking Form here and send it back to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Download Invitation to visit Jegersberg (PDF) here
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Riga Municipal police Vice Chief, with the conference (picture). The practice of cooperating with the civil society, using You-Tube accounts and radio programmes to launch a warning campaign for the young, was a truly successful combination, admitted both the Police and Riga City Council representatives. Finally, rapid amendments in the criminal law system resulted in closing the Spice shops. After 6 months of counteracting, new administrative fines were introduced for very small amounts of synthetic mixes for consumption; while selling, dealing, producing and consuming in larger quantities turned into criminal offences overnight (on April 8, 2014).Even if Latvian officials announce the “Spice-case” closed for the time being, the media and NGOs (www.StopDrugs.lv) still confirm the problem exists today. ECAD conclusion is that synthetic mixes need continuous monitoring in the neighbouring countries (Sweden, Norway) as it has become a legislative challenge for the drug policies in the countries of the region. Also Swedish Spice market needs to be examined for that purpose, and the project partners look forward to study visits and a conference in Stockholm to discover it this fall.
Conference Presentation materials:
"Understanding the "spice" phenomenon" (UPDATED!) Rita Jorge, Scienttific Analyst, EMCDDA, Action on New Drugs Sector, Supply reduction and new drugs unit
"Prevention in Riga, how does it work?" Vivita Kikule, Head of public Health Promotion and Prevention Unit, Riga City Council, Welfare Department
"An effective prevention: Stockholm city perspective and experience" Anders Eriksson, Prevention Specialist, Prevention Centre Stockholm, Sweden
"Space up your life; what happened in Riga in 2013-2015" Inga Dreimane, Prevention Specialist, Head of Structural Unit "Pardaugava"
"What can parents do to prevent drug and alcohol debuts?" Jörgen Larsson, Idependent Prevention Expert
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ECAD participates in a 2-year long EU project (TRIPLE R) on the exchange of the best practice in the field of recovery between EU member states. The project aims at reducing recidivism and crime in regard to drug addiction and spreading the cost effective and productive models on drug Rehabilitation, social Reintegration and Reinsertion of the drug addicts.
The project is run by San Patrignano Community, world`s largest therapeutic community for full recovery, which has been a partner for ECAD for many years.
4 well-known international rehabilitation communities are involved in the project and this winter and spring all project partners will participate in 3 study visits and 2 workshops, implying mutual learning and best practice exchange. The project has a pilot phase to be implemented later in Croatia, involving 3 different NGOs helping drug addicts.
The first study visit was made to the city of Ghent in Belgium on February 1-4, 2016, in order to investigate a unique practice of drug court`s in action. The visit was hosted by a Belgian NGO Popov GGZ, a consultation platform on mental health, including addiction.
We were welcome in Ghent City Hall and met the city Drug Policy Coordinator, Mr Filip De Sager, Provincial Drug Policy Coordinator, Mr. Bert Mostien and the heart of the Ghent Drug Court system, its liaison coordinator Mr. Alphonse Franssen (the three gentelmen pictured closer below from left to right).
The unique concept of Ghent Drug Court system is allowing a treatment to take place before any sentence or a verdict has been stated and a crime registered. The attitude of a judge at a Drug Court is thus strict but highly motivating, approving of a personal achievement and not moralizing about an addict. Also, crimes involving the use of alcohol are a matter of drug courts.
East Flanders uses an Integrated Treatment System, which became an evolution within the drug policy since 1998. The ITS consists of a complete set of care and treatment programmes for illicit drug users, guaranteeing customized care and its continuity, organized in a network. The therapeutic ideologies within the treatment programmes had to give way for solving concrete problems of the clients, which led to respect, shared vision and investigation of services available to make the treatment effective.
The city of Ghent applies a bottom-up approach to the drug policy, when the work priorities are chosen by the stakeholders of the local Drug Policy Steering Committee. The Committee consists of the police representatives, drug prevention sector of the city, NGO Popov GGZ, field workers, a mayor of Ghent and 3 deputies. (Ghent City Hall)
Flemish Ministry of Health set Recovery as a main strategy, but that was not about sobriety or control. Recovery in Belgium is about establishing a fulfilling, meaningful life. The point of case management is also keeping people in treatment, helping them indirectly to stay sober and to sustain recovery.
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The Conference is a part of the Legal High Baltic Alert, a project initiated by ECAD at the end of 2015. The grounds were continuous alarming reports from our colleagues in the Baltic countries and in Belarus, and also the latest EMCDDA report (2015), which revealed the highest substance mortality rates in the region in Estonia, Sweden and Latvia (compared to other EU countries). That had in many cases to do with the unknown synthetic mixes.
This trend clearly undermines security and social welfare of each city in the region. We have pulled together a smart group of prevention specialists, policemen, EMCDDA scientific analyst, NGO activists, a forensic expert, a drug and media analyst and recovered Spice users to begin with. Join us for a fruiteful discussion in Riga, we will also come out with a report afterwards.
The Conference will take place at Anninmuizas bulvaris 26A, Riga Stradina University, from 9.00. a.m. untill 3.30.p.m.
Download the Conference Programme (PDF)
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ECAD Secretary General Erik Leijonmarck will be moderating.
Criminal Justice system plays an integral role in drug use prevention by protecting public safety, reducing the availability of drugs and discouraging use in the population. It can also be a powerful vehicle to promote recovery by leveraging its sentencing authority to promote treatment, healing and overall recovery of individuals, families and communities dealing with drug use.
Speakers:
Caroline Cooper, research Professor and Director, Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs, American University
Valérie Lebaux, Chief, Justice Section, Division for Operations, UNODC
Ali Reunanen, Lecturer and former addict, clean and crime-free for 21 years
Torbjörn Brekke, Specialist Director, Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services
Subcategories
The ECAD Mayors' Conference
28th Mayor's Conference - Invitation - May 11th and 12th, 2023 - Malta
On May 11th and 12th, the 28th ECADs Mayor's Conference will take place at Dolmen Hotel in Qwara, Malta. We warmly invite you to join us and expand your knowledge on prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and recovery. The conference will highlight best practices and research in the field. It will offer the opportunity to network with other ECAD members, representatives from local authorities, and non-governmental organisations. Registration is free for the first person attending from your organisation!
Additionally, the conference allows for a unique experience as it includes a full day of field visits on May 12th. All participants are invited to Komunita’ Santa Marija, which will be sharing information on their services, and their experiences, and will engage in discussions.
The Agenda has now been published! The deadline to register is April 22nd
Day 1
DATE | TIME | VENUE
11/05/2023 | 09:00 – 17:30 | The Oracle Conference Centre - Dolmen Hotel Qawra, St. Paul's Bay
08:30hrs – 09:00hrs| Registrations
09:00hrs – 09:05hrs| Welcome Address by the President of Local Councils’ Association - Mr Mario Fava
09:05hrs – 09:15hrs| Welcome Address by ECADs Chairman of the Board from Kristiansand, Norway - Mr Viggo Lütcherath
09:15hrs – 09:20hrs| Welcome Address by the Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government - Hon. Alison Zerafa Civelli
09:20hrs – 09:40hrs| Inspirational speech – “Push yourself to do it because no one else is going to do it for you” by the President Northern Regional Council & LCA Executive Member - Mr. Clifford Galea Vella Maslennikov
09:40hrs – 10:30hrs| Panel Discussion and Presentation – Discussing the Local Context
The prevention team within Sedqa would like to present the following studies.
Study 1: The Role of a Workplace Policy in Addressing Employees’ Substance Misuse Difficulties.
Aim: To explore the probability of an employee seeking support for a substance misuse difficulty elicited by the workplace ethic fostered by management. Through this paper, we seek to determine a possible correlation between the implementation of a substance misuse policy at the workplace, and employees’ probability to seek guidance and support from their employers for a substance misuse-related difficulty.
Study 2: A Substance Misuse Policy in the Workplace: Senior Leadership Teams’ Attitudes
Aim: To explore how senior leadership teams’ (SLTs) attitudes inform the drafting of a substance misuse policy and how those attitudes inform job retention procedures in the case of an employee disclosing a substance misuse difficulty. Uncovering SLTs’ attitudes toward addiction is essential to understand how these beliefs inform workplace policy aims and actions on substance misuse.
Keynote speakers representing Sedqa Prevention team:
Mr Jareth Grima – Social Worker
Ms Sheryl Spiteri – Prevention Team
Ms Stephanie Mizzi Cascun – Prevention Professional.
10:30hrs – 11:00hrs| Coffee Break
11:00hrs – 11:45hrs| Mr Jon Sigfússon Planet Youth – Evidence-based drug prevention.
Mr Sigfússon is the international programme director for the evidence-based Planet Youth Guidance primary community-based health promotion intervention. Over the course of 20 years, Mr Sigfússon directed the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA).
11:45hrs – 12:30hrs| Mr Matej Košir - Strategies and tactics to prevent cannabis legalisation in Slovenia - The power of prevention science and advocacy.
Mr Matej Košir has been working in prevention and advocacy in the field of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for around 25 years. Since 2006, he has been involved in more than 30 European projects in the fields of health, justice, education, youth and research as a project or work package leader.
12:00hrs – 14:00hrs| Seated Buffet Lunch
14:00hrs – 14:45hrs| Profs. Christian Thurstone, MD - The impact of legalisation in Colorado, USA – challenges faced by [local] authorities and communities.
Profs. Thurstone is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado and a child psychiatrist who specialises in addiction treatment. He published some of the first papers on the potential effects of marijuana legalisation on youth and has devoted his professional life to preventing and treating adolescent substance misuse.
14:45hrs - 15:30hrs| Ms Mulka Nisic - Recovery Cities - Creating sustainable connections and networks in cities.
Ms Mulka Nisic has been involved as a Regional Project Manager and International Relations Officer at the NGO Celebrate Recovery, and Secretary General of the Recovered Users Network-RUN.
15:30hrs - 16:00hrs| Conclusive Remarks
16:00hrs – 17:30hrs| ECAD Plenary for ECAD Members only
19:30hrs – 23:00hrs| Welcome Dinner at The Pavilion Suite, Westin Dragonara St Julian’s - Separate Registration is required in the application form.
Day 2
DATE | TIME
12/05/2023 | 09:15 – 19:00
09:15hrs – 09:30hrs| Transport leaves from Dolmen Hotel & Salini Resort to Komunita Santa Marija
09:30hrs – 09:45hrs| Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:45hrs – 10:15hrs| Introduction to the services offered by Komunita’ Santa Marija.
10:15hrs – 11:00hrs| Sharing of good practices and discussion
11:00hrs – 11:30hrs| Tour around Komunita’ Sanata Marija premises
11:30hrs – 12:00hrs| Transport to Ħagar Qim in Qrendi
12:00hrs – 13:15hrs| Ħagar Qim Visit
13:15hrs – 13:30hrs| Transport to Xgħajra
13:30hrs – 16:00hrs| Lunch (you will have time for a short stroll by the seaside)
16:00hrs – 18:00hrs| Cultural Visit in Mdina – Visiting the National Museum of National History
18:00hrs – 19:30hrs| Visiting Dingli Cliffs
19:30hrs - 15:30hrs| Transport to Salini Resort and Dolmen Hotel
27th Mayors Conference - Gothenburg and online 2022
The 27th Mayors' Conference and 8th World Forum took place in Gothenburg and online 13-14th June 2022.
The World Forum and Mayor’s Conference is a meeting place for people from all continents who are working to prevent drug abuse, ensure evidence-based and gender-sensitive practices, increase access to treatment, and to promote recovery and reintegration services. This global forum is one of its kind where NGOs, self-help groups, treatment centres, scholars, local, regional, and national authorities, politicians and other decision-makers, and others from around the world will meet to share evidence and best practice experiences. This year’s World Forum will include three main tracks: Prevention, Treatment/Recovery, and Advocacy, which will stretch over 1,5 days followed by the WFAD Congress and ECAD Mayors plenary session.
We are proud to announce that the Forum was inaugurated by UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly and will be joined by experts from around the world.
Read more on the website: https://2022.wfad.se/ and access the full report here. 
26th Mayors Conference - Cork 2019 
25th MAYORS´ CONFERENCE
and 6th World Forum Against Drugs 
Conference materials
Kevin Sabet, PhD, Director, Drug Policy Institute, University of Florida, President, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), USA
Speech at the WFAD /ECAD 25th Mayors Conference, Gothenburg, May 15, 2018 (Video 5min.)
Supply reduction in Peril? A lot of the worlds`s drug supply emanates from a war-torn Columbia.
Dr. Michael Jonsson, FOI, Swedish Defence Research Agency
Text to the slides (PDF)
In Columbia, a peace deal has been struck, which gives hope for a closure of insurgency and violence. (PDF)
Thomas Pietschmann, Dr, Drug Research Section, Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs
The International drug control system, global/regional and national drug patterns and trends, and supply reduction efforts at the international level (PDF)
Photo: Götaplatsen @ Klas Eriksson
Annual Mayors` Conference and the 6th World Forum Against Drugs will take off on May 14-15 in Gothenburg this year.
This joint event will address a growing interest to the effective prevention practices, full recovery and alternatives to incarceration and to life-long dependency on drug treatment.
The conference will create a room for elaborating a practical guide to how a recovery city will look like, this will be grounded on the recent evidence-based research. Sheffield Hallam University (UK), Ghent University (Belgium) and the City of Gothenburg have already started working on this guide in practice.
In order to find out more and to register please visit a joint webpage here.
MAYORS` CONFERENCE 2017
ECAD 24th Mayors` Conference materials
On June 12-13, the city of Kaunas hosted ECAD 24th Annual Mayors`s Conference 2017
Safe Cities Without Drugs. Preventing, Protecting, Policing
Key-note speakers:
David W. Spencer, Field intelligence Manager, Drug Enforcement Agency, European Region
Supply reduction and dismantling drug trafficking organizations: In what ways can local communities benefit (PDF)
Kim Nilvall, Swedish National Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence section, Organized crime
Police work in socially disadvantaged areas in Sweden: Impact of drugs on urban crime (PDF)
Torsten Stodiek, Deputy Head, Strategic Police Matters Unit, Community Policing Advisor, Transnational Threats Department, OSCE
Preventing terrorism and countering violent extremism and radicalisation that lead to terrorism:
A community and intelligence led policing approach (PDF)
Jon Sigfusson, Director for Icelandic Centre of Social Research and Analysis, Reykjavik University, ICSRA
Youth in Europe and Planet Youth (PDF)
Laimonas Vasiliauskas, Senior Specialist, Serious and Organized Crime Department, EUROPOL
European Illicit Drug Market (PDF)
Antonio Boscini, Health Director, San Patrignano Community, Rimini, Italy
Recovery and social reinsertion: San Patrignano Community model extended (PDF)
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME (PDF)
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT (PDF)
Conference Booking Form
Kaunas Castle
Picture: @Rokas Tenys
Warm welcome to Kaunas, Lithuania!