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The City of Kristiansand, Norway, hosted annual conference for Norwegian network of cities in ECAD on January 5, 2012. ECAD Director Jörgen Svidén was one of the participants.
Representatives of Norwegian cities in ECAD meet once a year in January to focus on actual drug issues and discuss activities in their respective cities, to strengthen established contacts and to create new ones. Besides this, there are lectures on different topics to broaden perspectives and to give inspiration and new knowledge. The participants have various professional skills and roles, from leading politicians to practitioners and scientists.
Among great speakers was Else Kristin Utne Berg from Bergen, who presented a survey on trends of drug use and, based on that, ideas on how to react on these figures. The audience also got an interesting and engaged presentation from Kristiansand’s City medical practitioner, Dagfinn Harr, on success factors in the fight to help people overcome drug problems.
Norwegian initiative for ECAD member cities is most welcome in ECAD and is something that should be a role model for cities in other countries, as an important social factor and a professionally useful meeting. Gatherings like this are very inspiring and help set focus on the issue we all work on: how to create a better environment so that as few as possible get in contact with drugs and as many as possible stop taking them.
“Ut av tåka 2012”, a Norwegian annual seminar on cannabis, will be organized on February 22, and "Erfaringsdag", a seminar for drug coordinators from all over Norway, in connection to "Ut av tåka 2012" event will take place on February 21, 2012. Download seminar programme below.
"ERFARINGSDAG" PROGRAMME (PDF)
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A new book "Touching the spot" by Doctor Manuel Pinto Coelho, based on his work done in the scope of a doctorate thesis in Educational Sciences and supervised by Professor Amaral Dias is due to be published in English soon.This book deals with a controversial notion of addiction as a disease, a model that may be misplaced, according to Doctor Manuel Pinto Coelho (picture), ECAD representative in Portugal, medical director of the Permanent Medical Service in Portugal since 2003.
"This book is a proof that drug dependent is not a condemned victim", says Doctor Coelho, who has a degree in Medicine and Surgery. "He or she can free himself by discovering himself and his willpower".
"Touching the spot" is about figuring out a new paradigm to drug dependence, to help everyone who has problems with drugs all over the world, and their families, to live happier lives.
ECAD looks forward to a hard copy of the book to be published in English and Russian in the near future. Contact us if you wish to know more!
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In the middle of December Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) holds a reconvened Session to approve budget and agendas for the next CND (55th Session in March 12-16, 2012) for the two coming years.
In connection to this event Vienna NGO Committee had a meeting on December 14.
Meeting agenda focused on planning for the offensive work representing NGOs at the next CND session in March 2012 and arranging a Civil Society Hearing that is proposed to take place on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
The CND acts as a governing body that decides on the policies to be followed by the UNODC in the area of drugs and approves its budget for this work.
Vienna NGO Committee on drugs is growing stronger in cooperation with the UNODC and Civil Society Team. The Committee is now Austrian legal entity with a seat in Vienna ("Wiener Drogen Komitee" in German).
Members of the Committee are an important link between civil society and the UN bodies, as well as INCB and CND. This year many VNGOC members made contribution in form of contact networks in the countries that INCB chose for its field Missions (eg. Bolivia, Serbia, Turkey, Bangladesh).
NGO participation at the CND sessions in March is informal but there is a possibility to attract more attention to the vital issues through participation in the side events also next year. The number of side events that could be organised by the NGOs is reduced in 2012, which is unfortunate. However, side events are an actual possibility to influence CND agenda and NGOs will remain active, preparing for the CND. The topics of the round table discussions at the CND have been announced already:
a) Counter-narcotics efforts and the principle of common and shared responsibility: opportunities and challenges;
b) Measures to prevent diversion of substances frequently used in the manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances from domestic distribution channels, including by strengthening partnerships with the private sector.
Read more about the criteria for NGO selection to participate in the CND side events at www.unodc.org
ECAD has been an engaged member of the Vienna NGO Committee Board since 2009.
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Social workers, law enforcement officers, young volunteers, specialists promoting social development and healthy life attitudes are visiting Swedish NGOs (received at X-CONS in the picture) and s
tate bodies this week to get a picture of Swedish drug policy development.ECAD welcomes the initiative of 4 cities in Russian Siberia - Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, Nyagan´ and Khanti-Mansiysk - to learn from the successful experience in prevention.
Subcategories
The ECAD Mayors' Conference
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!