PREVENTION - ASSISTANCE - COUNSELING

1. CONCEPT/ SCOPE/ VISION

• Till the end of 2004, Romania will put into practice an integrated system of prevention and treatment services, structured in a national network of centres having capacity to implement coherent strategies at local level.
• Cutting-down the drug demand
• Developing the national ability for education-informing-prevention-treatment and with programs targeted on illegal drug traffic.

2. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• Reducing drug use and addiction among the general population.
• Diminishing the number of children and youths that start to use drugs.
• Diminishing drug use and addiction among persons who are in risky situation.
• Reducing the risks resulting from drug use and addiction.
• Diagnosing, analyzing and monitoring drug use.
• Legislative and institutional harmonization with EU regulations.

3. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• Reducing risk factors.
• Diversifying the means of preventing drug use.
• Promoting education for health among the population.
• Diminishing the accessibility of drug availability.
• Informing the population about the risks and the damages associated to drug use.
• Involving civil society.
• Developing co-ordination structures at the local and national level (National Anti-drug Agency).
• Improving the quality of prevention programs.
• Providing specific training for the specialists.
• Creating and promoting alternatives for spending spare time.
• Changing the public opinion and creating favorable attitudes for preventing drug use and abuse.
• Strengthening and developing the network of centers for preventing drug use and abuse in all counties.
• Developing the specific training courses in the university curricula.
• Creating the opportunities for an active involvement of the private sector by providing prevention and treatment of drug use and abuse.
• Periodically assessment of the preventing programs regarding the drug use and addiction.
• Developing and diversifying the co-operation between the national and international agencies having the same goal like drug use prevention.
• Developing the criminological studies on the data regarding the drug users and dealers.

4. DIFFICULTIES MEET IN DIMINISHING DRUG USE AND ADDICTION

• Limited financial resources, inappropriate management;
• The absence of performance indicators and of a data monitoring and centralizing system;
• Insufficiently structured partnerships between governmental and nongovernmental organizations in carrying out programs of preventing drug use and addiction;
• The lack of coherence in the Romanian society's acknowledgement regarding the drug use and addiction;
• The limited capacity of Romanian institutions and authorities empowered to intervene and reduce criminality;
• The lack of trained specialists to be able to act from an interdisciplinary perspective.

5. OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIMINISHING DRUG USE AND ADDICTION:

• The existence of political will to elaborate a strategy of preventing drug use and addiction;
• The developing of an appropriate legal framework regarding the prevention and the fight against drug use and addiction;
• The involvement of some NGOs in drug use prevention activities;
• The training of specialists in the fields of education, police, health and youth etc.
• The allocation of funds from the public health budget - through National Programs - and also the existence of external funding for the prevention of drug use;
• The potential funding from international financial institutions;
• The existence of statistic data regarding drug use and the trends of the drug phenomenon;
• Appropriate working methods and techniques;
• Changing, at the community level, the public opinion regarding the drug use and addiction;
• The approval of valuable projects with appropriate audit and control

6. THE ANT-DRUG COUNSELLING AND PREVENTION CENTRES