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What can cities do to lighten the burden of drug addiction on the affected individuals, their families and communities?
One of the coming ECAD Mayors` Conference segments will address this issue. There is a need to provide a forum for developing a vision what a recovery city will look like. This implies bringing together the main stakeholders (e.g. city council officials, public and private organisations, civil society, etc.) and creating a room for cooperation.
Sheffield Hallam University (UK), Ghent University (Belgium) and the City of Gothenburg have started to outline how a recovery city would look like in practice.
In order to find out more and to obtain all the practical information you can now visit a new webpage here.
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Picture: Alsborgsbron @ Klas Eriksson
This joint conference gathers the world`s leading experts in preventing drug use, treating and rehabilitationg drug abuse addiction.
We will go in depth on the best practices for prevenion and explore the concept of full recovery from addiction, and also the links between drug trade and crime, insecurity and terrorism.
Download the First Announcement with Programme Highlights (PDF)
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ECAD has been invited to Moscow on dec 3-5 to speak at the conference Parliamentarians Against Drugs alongside other NGO´s working with preventing drug use and treating drug addiction.
UNODC director Yuri Fedotov, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and minister of health Veronika Skvortsova as well as various UN bodies are presenting their views to reaffirm support for the international drug control system and how to address the world drug problem.
ECAD Secretary General will speak on evidence based primary prevention and how local and regional governments can contribute to drug demand reduction. 
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On November 7th ECAD was invited by Public Policy Exchange to Brussels to comment upon the new
European Union Action Plan on drugs 2017-2020. The EU Drug Strategy 2013-2020
consists of overarching objectives concretised into two sets of action plans
from 2013-2016 and 2017-2020.
ECAD Secretary General remarked that the action plan represents a solid and diverse sets of actions
with which to address drug use and addiction but it could be better balanced to
emphasize evidence based primary prevention and the ambition to fully recover
drug addicts from their addiction.
It is the experience of ECAD that there exists a genuine distrust in the ability to prevent drug use
more than at the margin, among EU policy makers. The distrust could be
summarized in the following way.
The younger generation is not receptive to an adult message of don't use drugs. Many interventions and
programs to prevent drug use have proved insufficient and/or counterproductive
and is therefore a waste of time and resources. Further, drug use has not
decreased in the EU as a whole while drug related deaths are on the rise,
partially related to the use of NPS such as fentanyl.
While there is some truth to this assessment, EU policy makers would be wise to carefully
scrutinize the European country that has consistently managed to reduce use of
substances for more than 20 years – Iceland. On Iceland, evidence based primary
prevention is revolutionizing our understanding of how drug use and other
problematic behaviour of adolescents can be prevented.
Evidence based primary prevention is not about making young people receptive to a message of non-drug
use or changing their attitudes. It is about engineering the environment in
which young people grow up to strengthen protective factors and weaken risk
factors. All should be based on consistent research and monitoring and a
dialogue between researchers, policy makers and those implementing the changes.
The Icelandic model is not magic, it is not a fancy new program or sets of
actions that will immediately change the situation but a slow and consistent
progress aimed at changing the behaviour of youth. It is also well researched
by more than 100 scientific articles.
ECAD Secretary General also expressed his views on the importance of having belief on the ability of
recovery from drug addiction in clients in need of treatment services. ECAD is
a part of a two year long EU project on recovery from drug addiction with
partners from across Europe. The key findings are that drug use are in many
cases a recoverable condition if given the right tools.
The problem some of our member cities face is how to combine and connect health and harm reduction
services with psychosocial interventions and long term support, including after
care for those in recovery. How do we enable an environment that is receptive
to the needs of the recovered users and support or maintain the recovery
process without them falling off track and relapsing?
The EU action plan has the right sets of tools in place for the promotion of recovery across union
member states. However, the action plan is geared towards risk and harm
reduction services which are easy to implement and monitor and have clear
indicators of success. Being in treatment or in a needle exchange program is
easy to assess and measure. Those recovering on the their own or with the
support of family and friends is harder to follow up on.
The Secretary General opened up for a discussion on a new set of indicators of success for people
with drug use problems that could be applicable to both risk and harm reduction
services as well as treatment services. Self-reported quality of life, payment
of tax, ability to hold a job, engagement with volunteerism etc could be
discussed as measures of success of drug addicts in treatment and recovery.
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Triple R Project partners from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Croatia will be sharing expertise on addiction and discussing rehabilitation, recovery, justice interventions and alternatives to incarceration. The aim of the project final stage i Croatia is fostering treatment instead of punishment and promoting social reintegration for recovered drug addicts.
Conference Programme
You can still register and send this Booking form to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. untill Friday, November 10, by 15.00 CET.
The Triple R project is a 2-year long European project based on the exchange of the best practices in the field of recovery between EU member states that took place in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden. The Belgian Drug Courts Popov GGZ, the Italian San Patrignano and CeIS Rome, Dianova Spain, Basta and ECAD have been actively engaged in the project.
The second phase of the project Triple took place in Croatia implementing a research study on current needs of treatment services, therapeutic communities, social reinsertion programs, alternative sentencing interventions and piloting the Triple R guidelines with the involvement of Croatian partners NGO Stjiena, NGO Udruga San Patrignano and NGO Institute Pula and local stakeholders.
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!