EMCDDA Director Wolfgang Götz will be opening a workshop today in Zadar, Croatia, in his first official visit to the country since its accession to the EU in July 2013. The two-day workshop, which focuses on Croatia’s national drug monitoring system, is being organised by the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information and Exchange Instrument (TAIEX), in cooperation with the EMCDDA and the Office for Combating Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (Reitox national focal point).
The aim of the workshop is to showcase Croatia’s achievements to date in developing its national drug information system and to increase the visibility of the EMCDDA and the national focal point in the country. The event will gather over 30 experts from across Europe.
Mr Götz will open the inaugural session — ‘Why monitoring of the drug situation and related responses matters’ — with a presentation on ‘Providing the evidence base for effective policy and action’. He will be joined by member of the Croatian national parliament, Ms Lidija Bagarić who will speak on ‘The role of monitoring in modelling national drug policy: interventions responding to changes’.
Following an introduction by Mr Željko Petković, Director of the Office for Combating Drug Abuse, Mr Alexis Goosdeel, EMCDDA Head of unit for Reitox and international cooperation will speak on reference frameworks for monitoring the drug situation and on issues of quality assurance. Also covered in this session will be the effectiveness of drug policy, the use of monitoring in improving responses at the local level and drug-related expenditure in Croatia. Three additional sessions will examine the: analysis and use of epidemiological data; getting to know the principles of drug markets; and ensuring evidence-based and proactive responses.
Workshops — In addition to the four plenary sessions, the event will include two workshops:
Workshop I, ‘Composing a puzzle’, will look at innovative approaches in monitoring the drugs phenomenon; drug-related deaths, prevalence estimates and treatment data; and cross-indicator analyses.
Workshop II, ‘Defining a way forward’, will focus on the Draft action plan on national drugs information system in the Republic of Croatia (2014–15).
Press conference 22 October — 12.00–13:00
Venue: Hotel PINIJA, Petrcane bb, 23231-Petrcane
The inaugural session will be followed by a press conference presenting:
- new trends and challenges in the drugs field in Europe and Croatia;
- the launch of the 2013 national report on the drug situation in Croatia; and
- key findings of a Zadar-based project in the rapidly-developing scientific discipline of wastewater analysis.
