Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-13-Speech-4-011"
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"en.20030213.2.4-011"2
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". – Madam President, this proposal for a Council recommendation is based on Article 152 of the Treaty, which stipulates that Community action complementing national measures is to cover the fight against the major health scourges. The Treaty cites drugs and drugs-related harm in the following way: 'The Community shall complement the Member States' action in reducing drugs-related health damage, including information and prevention.'
The Commission has received invaluable help from the Lisbon agency in preparing this recommendation, which I see as a positive step for drug users as well as public health in general.
May I also remind you that one of its main initiatives in the fight against drugs - the EU Drug Strategy 2000-2004 - includes amongst its three main public health targets one to
drugs-related health damage and the number of drugs-related deaths. The reported number of deaths related to drug overdose in the European Union is approximately 7 000 per year. Deaths indirectly related to drug use, such as AIDS, traffic accidents, violence or suicide, bring this figure to approximately 20 000 a year.
Preventing the use of illegal drugs is a top priority. This can be achieved by reducing both the supply and the demand for drugs. This proposed recommendation particularly covers the demand side and takes over where law enforcement fails to stop the supply of drugs.
Clearly, we should try to persuade people not to use illegal drugs in the first place. However, when an individual cannot be stopped from taking drugs, it is of vital importance that every effort is made to decrease the damage to the person involved, as well the indirect damage the user can cause to others. The addicted individual needs to be actively involved in these efforts. This is called risk reduction – or sometimes harm reduction or harm minimisation. This is what the main part of the recommendation is about. The risk reduction methods that feature in the recommendation are well established. They have been used in most or all of the Member States, but to varying degrees.
Opiates, such as heroin, are the root cause of most drugs-related deaths. One of the oldest of the risk reduction methods is controlled use of methadone tablets as a substitute for injected heroin. Methadone first appeared in the EU in the late 1960s in response to emerging opiate use. The emergence of HIV in the 1980s led to the introduction of needle- and syringe-exchange programmes.
In recent years, the number of acute drugs-related deaths at EU level as a whole has stabilised, in spite of increasing drug use. Many factors may have contributed to this development. Injecting drugs has decreased in some countries and medical treatment of overdoses has improved. However, the risk reduction methods covered by this recommendation are likely to have made a large contribution to this favourable development.
Drug services need to be easily accessible, reaching out to the place where the drug user happens to be, not where we want him or her to be. These are termed 'outreach services'. Such services should also be offered without unrealistic demands – sometimes called 'low threshold services'. The aim is to prevent further deterioration in the health and social circumstances of users and motivate them to seek treatment.
The more controversial risk reduction methods are not mentioned in the present recommendation, although they are being used in some of the Member States. Methods such as heroin injections under supervision, injection rooms, open-drug scenes and on-the-spot anonymous testing of substances require more research and evaluation before they can be generally recommended.
The recommendation emphasises evaluation as a key tool for improving drugs-related measures. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon plays a crucial role in the development of key indicators for monitoring and comparing drug use in the Member States. It also assists in providing guidelines for the evaluation of drugs-related projects and evaluates different programmes and policies."@en1
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"reduce substantially"1
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