|
Monday, 14 May 2012 17:20 |
XIXth Mayors´ Conference in Killarney, co-hosted by the Swedish municipality of Staffanstorp, will be remembered by ECAD members with warmest gratitude and by all other conference participants hopefully as a great success.
His Excellency Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland and the Patron of pan-European drug prevention programme Youth in Europe honoured the conference with his presence and accepted ECAD Lifetime Achievement Award. His Excellency has since many years been committed to the fight against drugs and to drug prevention.
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson spoke bluntly about primary victims of the most profitable industry in the world, young people in each city, every day subject to killings by illicit drug industry and its´ servants.
ECAD Annual Award (2011) went to SanPatrignano Recovery Community in Italy, gracefully accepted by Monica Luppi (picture below), one of the excellent speakers at the conference.
Conference Materials will be published on ecad.net in the nearest days. Please return for updates!
Conference hosts and organizers with the President of Iceland. In the front row (sitting left to right):
Michael Sandin, Mayor of Staffanstorp, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, Sean Counihan, Mayor of Killarney and Jim Corr, ECAD Chairman.
 
|
|
Friday, 04 May 2012 14:59 |
 Dear Conference participants,
we hope you have booked your flights and reserved hotel by now, as a very interesting programme awaits all who comes to the 19th Mayors´ Conference.
We have invited high-skilled professionals and researchers, a whole conference day will be devoted to cannabis discussions, you will enjoy beautiful surroundings and lots of genuine Irish music.
Download Conference Programme (PDF)
WELCOME TO KILLARNEY!
|
|
Thursday, 19 April 2012 11:14 |
ECAD visited member city of Kaunas, Lithuania, on April 17th this week.
Kaunas municipality has always been a role model in ECAD, and this visit resulted in plans for activities for 2012 and 2013.
ECAD director and project manager met Kaunas vice Mayor Stanislovas Buškevičius, and a group of municipal officers, Mr.Antanas Bagdonas, Head of Education and Training Division, Lina Borisevičienė, International Relations and Protocol Division Chief Specialist as well as Mrs. Rasa Šerpytriene, Kaunas A. Žikevičius Safe Child School, Tautvydas Zikaras, Director of Kaun as County Center for Addictive Disorders and Virginijus Mažeika, Director of Education and Cultural Affairs Board.
Vice Mayor Stanislovas Buškevičius (standing in the picture) was concerned about the role of alcohol and tobacco marketing, preventative work in the city and discussions with city officials focused on challenges to improve knowledge among politicians in other cities as well as
the ways of spreading good ideas on how to work so that as few as possible get involved in drugs.
ECAD plans to carry out an international ECAD conference in Kaunas in the spring of 2013.
The exact dates are yet to be decided; among proposed conference topics were cooperation with twin cities of Kaunas, comparing drugs, tobacco and alcohol consumption trends, as a part of Youth in Europe questionnnaire findings and leisure activities for children as prevention measures, national and  local initiatives.
The city of Kaunas has demonstrated genuine interest in prevention and is taking an active position in ECAD as it leads the drug prevention work in the country by setting examples of effecient local prevention work not only in Lithuania but also in the EU. A role model of this scale is Kaunas Zhikevichius Safe Child School, focused on health and safety issues for children between 7 and 18, providing preventative courses for app. 5000 schoolchildren in Kaunas.
ECAD thanks Kaunas Municipality and especially Lina Borisevičienė for an exceptionally well-organized visit and a warm welcome in Kaunas!
Left to right: Jörgen Svidén, ECAD Director, Antanina Medvedeviene, Kaunas city Councilor and Lina Boriseviciene, Kaunas International Relations Division chief specialist by Kaunas Castle.
|
|
Monday, 02 April 2012 13:10 |
|
ECAD 19th Mayors’ Conference May 9-12, 2012 in Killarney, Ireland
Conference booking form is now available for download. Please mail or fax this form to ECAD head office at your earliest convenience:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
; fax: +46 8 508 29 466
Read more under "Conferences" in the menu to the left!
Conference venue: The Malton Hotel, Killarney
The hotel: The Malton Hotel (single room 95€, double/twin 130 €)
Please note that you book the hotel yourself, quoting that yours is an ECAD booking
|
|
Monday, 19 March 2012 15:53 |
|
|
|
Friday, 16 March 2012 14:30 |
ECAD took part in the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs this week, March 12-16 in Vienna as an observer for Drug Free America. This year´s session was a special one, marking one hundredth anniversary of the Opium Convention signed in 1912 in Hague.
There was a number of important resolutions prepared by the member states: promoting treatment alternatives to imprisonment as a strategy for drug demand reduction (Mexico), promoting female oriented strategies and interventions for women at risk of drug abuse and drug dependence (Denmark), reintegration of persons released from prison who have renounced drug abuse (Ukraine) and others.
As a board member of Vienna NGO Committe on Drugs ECAD was involved in organizing the first Informal Civil Society Hearing, capitalizing on establishing relationships between governments and civil society at the CND. Three informal dialogues with the head of INCB, Prof. Hamid Ghodse, Executive Director of UNDC, Yury Fedotov, and the Chair of CND, Carmen Bujan Feire, were organized by the Committee and the key persons of the drug policy stressed their efforts to establish a sustainable cooperation with NGOs on the regular basis.
The overwhelming amount of seminars and side events left very little room for reflection but the key message of the CND was probably delievered already at the opening session by UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov:
"Crucially, the international community must protect children. Young people need to live a rewarding life that offers numerous ways of obtaning enjoyment without the need for drugs.
UNODC`s own work on behalf of children exposed to drugs has started in Afghanistan and will extend soon to West Africa and East Asia. (...)
UNODC also stands ready to work with governments to improve access to drugs for medical purposes - particularly pain medications - while also countering diversion and drug abuse. Overall, our work on treatment side must be considered as part of the normal clinical work undertaken when responding to any other desease in the health system.
Our commitment is founded on the drug conventions. They form a part of a continuum based on human rights and the rule of law that flows directly from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international standards and norms to our delivery of practical actions. (...)"
Complete speech can be downloaded here (PDF-file)
33th and the 6th articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, upholding the right of children to live and develop in the drug-free communities have thus been underscored.
Youth Initiative, launched by the UNODC at the CND, alternative development and promoting of health-oriented approach with respect to human rights were important issues stressed at the multiple side-events and general sessions.
|
|
Friday, 09 March 2012 17:04 |
|
Call for nominations for ECAD Award 2012 is now open!
ECAD has instituted a yearly award for the member cities to honour outstanding achievements in the work against illicit drugs.
Thereby we encourage engagement and commitment in anti-drug fieldwork and policy making.
Nominations are accepted until March 31st, 2012.
Read more at www.ecad.net/award
|
|
Friday, 09 March 2012 16:58 |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 15:39 |
Therap eutical use of marijuana is a highly debated topic not only in the US but also in Europe.
A new book written by Italian journalist Fabio Bernabei will definitely give you some food for thought on this:
"Cannabis medica: 100 risposte sull`uso terapeutico della marijuana" published by Sugarco Edizioni (2012) is available in Italian.
Please contact ECAD office at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
if you would like to know more about this book or its author.
|
|
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 14:43 |
 
We would like to inform our members and interested NGOs about the possibility to get to know more about the activities at the 55th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.
The CND will take place during week 11, March 12-16, 2012.
As a member of Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs, ECAD is pleased to offer a guide to the 55th Session of CND to brief NGOs about the participation in one of the major drug policy events of the year.
All the documents for the CND, including draft resolutions, can be found on the website of the United Nations On Drugs and Crime.
Commission on Narcotic Drugs (2012): A briefing for NGOs and CSOs (PDF)
|
|
|
