World Federation Against Drugs
WFAD
World Federation Against Drugs (WFAD) is a multilateral community of non-governmental organisations and individuals.
ID: 226803729035-06
Lobbying Activity
Response to Evaluation of the implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy and of the EU Drugs Action Plan 2021-2025
15 Jan 2024
WFAD is an umbrella organisation, based in Sweden, with European and International membership. With 425 member organisations in 69 countries our common aims are to strengthen prevention, increase access to treatment and promote recovery. WFAD places particular emphasis on the rights and needs of women and children in our field. We welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on the implementation of the EU Drugs Action Plan 2021-2025. The full contribution has been uploaded as an attachment. The EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan offers a comprehensive approach to the European drug issue, that spans supply reduction, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, as well as cross border collaboration within and beyond the European borders. A balanced and comprehensive approach is necessary to tackle the drug issue in Europe. WFAD strongly encourages the EU to further invest in evidence-based prevention and early detection. Prevention should start early (as early as during pregnancy) and work long-term, services should gender sensitive and monitored and evaluated (with data disaggregated by gender) and age appropriate. For every euro spent on prevention, at least 10 can be saved in future health, social, and crime related costs. Prevention has a mediating factor, in that we are not simply preventing drug use but ensuring strengthened mental health, better school achievement, and other positive social and health related factors. To curb the drug situation in Europe, we urge Member States to implement a comprehensive continuum of care, with prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery and reintegration. Acccess to evidence-based, gender sensitive and trauma informed treatment should be expanded. It is important to maintain diversity in treatment services to accommodate different user groups and different treatment goals. Recovery and reintegration deserve additional attention in the action plan. People can and do recover. EU countries should aim to promote recovery by strengthening recovery pathways, recovery-oriented systems of care and reducing obstacles and providing opportunities for meaningful activities and participation. Peer-support and self-help groups play a significant role in maintaining stable recovery. Research finds that people in recovery are an important resource in their communities. The current EU Drug Action Plan 2021-2025 and the Strategy explicitly refer to gender related topics, such as barriers to treatment and specific needs of women, linking these to broader aspects such as gender-based violence. The EU Drug Strategy and Action plan seemingly incorporates gender through the documents; however, the Action plan lacks clear procedures with regard to implementation of and follow up of these aspects. The perspective of children whose parents or primary caregivers use drugs are not included in the documents and is important that this is further developed. This is an important perspective needed to break intergenerational cycles of addiction. Recommendations related to gender and women - Include a requirement of trauma-informed interventions -Promote a gender inclusive language throughout the documents - Place emphasis on traingin and capacity building for practionioners - Further develop tools and mechanisms to ensure that the policies are implemented on the ground. -Interventions should always be evaluated and monitored from a gender perspective, and measures indicated in the Strategy should be mirrored in the Action plan. - The perspectives of children whose parents or primary caregivers use drugs are not included in the documents and should be further developed and a clear mention of Convention on the Rights of the Child article 33: obligating states to protecting and preventing children from the production, trafficking, and use of illicit substances. -Gender-disaggregated data should also be available in overarching indicators of the Action Plan.
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