EMCDDA conference: Identifying Europe’s information needs for effective drug policy

Please note: the original page (2009) linked to by this URL has been archived. Information contained on this page is less complete but has been added to maintain the institutional record. You may view an archived version of the origiinal page here. Conference proceedings are also available. The text below refers has been copied from the original web page.

The EMCDDA has been reporting on the drug situation in Europe since the mid-1990s and, since then, both the drug problem and how Member States respond to it have evolved considerably. During this period, a commitment to evidence-based policymaking has been accompanied by a steady growth in the amount and quality of the information available to facilitate and support the policy debate.

The conference, 'Identifying Europe’s information needs for effective drug policy', highlights four main themes: Policy, Practice, Trends and Horizons. It provides an opportunity for policymakers, researchers and practitioners to:

  • take stock of progress in European drug policy and the EMCDDA’s role in this;
  • identify and consider future key issues for the drug situation in Europe;
  • propose how these issues may impact on information needs.

Programme

Wednesday 6 May, 14.00–15.30 Opening session

  • Wolfgang Götz, EMCDDA Director
  • Marcel Reimen, Chairman of the EMCDDA Management Board
  • Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Director at the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security, European Commission
  • Kamil Kalina, Chairman of the Working Party on Drugs of the Council of the European Union 
  • José Sócrates, Prime Minister of Portugal

Wednesday 6 May, 16.00–18.30 Plenary thematic session I: Policy
Information needs for policy — implications for monitoring and science

Chair: Ingo Michels, Office of the Drug Commissioner, Germany

1. Making connections — the questions we have to answer

Speaker: Jürgen Rehm, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany

2. The National perspective

Speaker: Piotr Jabłoński, National Bureau for Drug Prevention, Warsaw, Poland and Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe

3. The European perspective

Speaker: Carel Edwards, European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security

4. The International perspective

Speaker: Sandeep Chawla, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

5. Civil society forum on drug

Speaker: Michel Perron, Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Ottawa, Canada

Thursday 7 May, 9.00–10.30 Plenary thematic session II: Practice
Making the link between science and practice

Chair: Henri Bergeron, Centre of Sociology of Organisations, (CSO), CNRS, Paris, France (bio notes)

1. Making science speak to policy and practice

Speaker: Michael Farrell, Chair of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee of the EMCDDA

2. Understanding the evidence base

Speaker: Marina Davoli, Italian National Health Service, Department of Epidemiology, Rome, Italy

3. Moving beyond experimentation — translating evidence into practice

Speaker: Henk Garretsen, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

4. Doing it well

Speaker: Zili Sloboda, University of Akron, Akron, USA

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Thursday 7 May, 11.00–12.30 Parallel session A
Treatment and harm reduction, needs for more tailored interventions

Chair: Annette Verster, World Health Organization (WHO) (bio notes)

1. Making treatment systems more recovery-oriented

Speaker: John Marsden, National Addiction Center London, UK

2. Heroin prescription — new responses for the hard to treat

Speaker: Christian Haasen, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

3. Addressing psychosocial needs

Speaker: Marta Torrens, Municipal Institute of Medical Investigation (IMIM), Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

4. Meeting different needs — treatment targeted at specific groups

Speaker: Gabriele Fischer, Medical University, Vienna, Austria

Thursday 7 May, 11.00–12.30 Parallel session B
From prevention to treatment — finding the right group

Chair:  Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (bio notes)

1. Indicated prevention — targeting those most at risk

Speaker: Gregor Burkhart, EMCDDA, on behalf of Jörg Fegert, Ulm University Hospital, Ulm, Germany

2. Prevention in nightlife settings — intervening early by staying up late

Speaker: Amador Calafat, European Institute of Studies on Prevention (IREFREA), Palma de Mallorca, Spain

3. Targeting mental health — working in and with the families

Speaker: Joana Prego, Gabinete de Atendimento à Família, Viana do Castelo, Portugal

4. Internet-based interventions — messages that click

Speaker: Peter Tossmann, Delphi Society for Research, Berlin, Germany

Thursday 7 May, 11.00–12.30 Parallel session C
Interventions related to criminal justice and drug supply

Chair: Brice De Ruyver, University of Ghent, Belgium (bio notes)

1. Gaps in the knowledge-base — evidence in the criminal justice system and its implementation in practice

Speaker: Krzysztof Krajewski, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland

2.  Treatment and harm reduction in prison and continuity of care

Speaker: Caren Weilandt, Scientific Institute of the German Medical Association (WIAD), Bonn, Germany

3. Alternatives to imprisonment — scope and evidence

Speaker: Alex Stevens, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

4. Supply reduction — how to define it and how it could be monitored

Speaker: Paul Turnbull, Institute for Criminal Policy, School of Law, King's College London, UK

 

Thursday 7 May, 14.00–15.30 Plenary thematic session III: Trends
Monitoring a fast-moving, complex phenomenon

Chair: Franz Pietsch, Federal Ministry of Health and Women, Vienna, Austria (bio notes)

1.  The Reitox experience — lessons learned in developing a network of national focal points and challenges for the future

Speakers: Alan Lodwick, Head of the UK national focal point (NFP) and Reitox Spokesperson and Viktor Mravcik, Head of the Czech Republic NFP

2. What can Europe learn from the US experience of policy-related drugs monitoring?

Speaker: Terry Zobeck, The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Washington D.C., USA

3. What can Europe learn from the Australian experience of policy-related drugs monitoring?

Speaker: Wayne Hall, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

4. The missing link — how do we include qualitative information in monitoring systems?

Speaker: Dirk Korf, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Thursday 7 May, 16.00–17.30 Parallel session A
Understanding the intricacies of Europe

Chair: Marcel De Kort, Member of the EMCDDA Management Board, The Netherlands

1.  ESPAD — are young Europeans getting more alike?

Speaker: Björn Hibell, Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN), Stockholm, Sweden

2. Keeping on target — the need for more rapid and policy-relevant reporting

Speaker: Jane Mounteney, Bergen Clinics, Bergen, Norway

3.  Blurred lines — prescription, over-the-counter and in-the-post medicinal products

Speaker: Tim Pfeiffer-Gerschel, Institute for Therapy Research (IFT), Munich, German

4. New drugs coming our way — what are they and how do we detect them?

Speaker: Les King, former head of the drugs intelligence unit, Forensic Science Service, and member of the Home Office Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), Basingstoke, UK

Thursday 7 May, 16.00–17.30Parallel session B
Drug problems and consequences

Chair: João Goulão, National Drugs Coordinator, Ministry of Health, Portugal

1. HIV and HCV, TB and other drug-related infections — the way forward

Speaker: Mirjam Kretzschmar, Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

2.  Monitoring drug-related overdose and mortality in Europe

Speaker: Éva Keller, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

3.  Problem cannabis use — what is it and how to assess it?

Speaker: François Beck, National Institute for Prevention and Health Education, Saint Denis, France

4. Monitoring drug emergencies — what does it tell us?

Speaker: Paul Dargan, National Health Service Foundation Trust (NHS), Guy´s and St Thomas´ Hospital, London, UK

Thursday 7 May, 16.00–17.30 Parallel session C
Trafficking routes and markets

Chair: Robert Hauschild, Europol (bio notes)

1. Mapping the changing European cannabis market place

Speaker: Jean-Michel Costes, French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), Saint-Denis, France

2.  Impact of drug policy on the drugs market

Speaker: Franz Trautmann, Trimbos Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands

3.  Amphetamines — trends in stimulant production and use in Europe

Speaker: Tomáš Zabranský, Center of Addictology at the Psychiatric Clinic, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

4.  What’s happening to heroin? Methodological challenges in understanding trends in heroin production and supply

Speaker: Thomas Pietschmann, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Friday 8 May, 09.00–10.30 Plenary thematic session IV: Horizons
Arising issues

Chair: Fernando Rodriguez de Fonseca, Fundación Imabis, Hospital University Carlos Haya, Malaga, Spain (bio notes)

1. Drug use and addiction — new scientific findings

Speaker: Jean-Pol Tassin, Collège de France, Paris, France

2. Emerging research needs

Speaker: Gerhard Bühringer, Institute for Therapy Research (IFT), Munich, and Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

3.  Looking out from the EMCDDA — regional systems in a global perspective

Speaker: Paul Cook, International consultant on drugs and drug addiction, Manchester, UK

4. Monitoring in the technological age

Speaker: John Ramsey, St George´s Hospital Medical School, London, UK

Friday 8 May, 11.00–12.00 Wrap-up session
Taking forward the findings

Chair: Ralf Löfstedt, Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Stockholm, Sweden (bio notes)

1. Learning from the past to plan for the future

Speaker: Virginia Berridge, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

2. Wrap-up presentation: What has the EMCDDA learnt?

Speakers: Paul Griffiths and Roland Simon, EMCDDA

3. Raising the bar — meeting Europe´s future challenges

Speaker: Michael Farrell, Chair of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee, National Addiction Centre, Kings College London, UK

Friday 8 May, 12.10–13.00 Closing session

Chair and final address: Wolfgang Götz, EMCDDA Director (bio notes)

Carel Edwards, Head of Unit at the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security, European Commission

Mariano Simancas, Deputy Director, Europol

Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President of the Portuguese Republic

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