EMCDDA Treatment Demand Indicator (TDI)/treatment expert meeting

The purpose of the EMCDDA 2016 TDI / treatment expert meeting is to facilitate the exchange among European experts on the latest developments on the monitoring of drug treatment demand and provision. The meeting has the objectives to discuss with national experts the current achievements and areas for improvement, as well as provide a space for sharing experiences and discuss about technical and implementation issues related to the collection and analysis of treatment-related data.

The focus of this year’s two-day meeting was on the results from the second year of implementation of the new TDI protocol (version 3.0) and of the EMCDDA treatment monitoring strategy. Around these two topics, more specific discussions took place on recent trends and new threats observed through treatment-related data, new methodological developments in terms of drug treatment monitoring, as well as further exploration of the treatment population beyond treatment entrants in the EU and in the neighbouring countries. The discussion also integrated other areas relevant to drug treatment monitoring, such as monitoring dual diagnosis among treatment patients, treatment outcomes and cost as well as understanding the balance between access to opioid substitution treatment and prevention of diversion. 

The overall purpose of this year’s meeting was to reinforce and improve the information collected through existing monitoring tools in the area drug treatment.

The outcome of the meeting will be a rapid communication which will compile the discussions and analysis presented during this two day meeting. It will be disseminated among our national experts, the wider REITOX network and all stakeholders interested in recent trends in treatment demand and treatment provision in Europe. This document should serve as a reference point for our network of treatment experts.