HARM REDUCTION RESPONSES TO DRUGS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

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HARM REDUCTION RESPONSES TO DRUGS IN THE EUROPEAN
UNION FROM MARGIN TO MAINSTREAM

• 8th Annual Meeting of the European Red Cross /
  Red Crescent Network on HIV/AIDS, Krakow 25
  28 September 2004
• Presentation by Dagmar Hedrich (EMCDDA)

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CONTENTS

• EMCDDA role and function
• EU Strategy and policy recommendations to reduce
  health-related harm
• Needle and syringe programmes
• Situation in the EU Member States
• Trends and challenges

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EMCDDA ROLE AND FUNCTION
to provide the Community and its Member States
with objective, reliable and comparable informatio
n at European level concerning drugs and drug
addiction and their consequences.
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INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT
European Council
EU Commission
Council of the Union
Parliament
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DRUG INJECTING A CHALLENGE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

• Problem drug use (PDU) injecting and/or long
  duration, regular use of opiates, cocaine,
  amphetamines
• average 4-7 per 1.000 adults EU
• Heroin epidemic in western Europe since 1970s
  high health and social burden

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EU DRUG STRATEGY 2000 2004 TARGET 2

•  To reduce substantially over five years the
  incidence of drug-related health damage (such as
  HIV, hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis) and the
  number of drug-related deaths  

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COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 18 JUNE 2003

• Member States should, in order to provide for a
  high level of health protection, set as public
  health objective the prevention of drug
  dependence and the reduction of related risks,
  and develop and implement comprehensive
  strategies accordingly.

(Council Recommendation 2003/488/EC)
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EU recommendations to reduce health-related harm

• Prevention of drug use and injecting
• Treatment, incl substitution treatment
• Outreach and peer-to-peer education
• Prophylactic measures against inf diseases
• Voluntary screening, vaccination,treatment
• Equivalence of services in prisons

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Harm Reduction, historically

• emerged in the 1980s / HIV/Aids context
• shift of response paradigm