The National Drug Policy Dialogue (NDPD) that was held in Dushanbe on November 16 is the second event of this nature in Tajikistan, according to the European Union (EU) Delegation to Tajikistan.
The NDPD reportedly aims to support the national drug policies and services towards an effective, evidence-based and comprehensive response to the drug issues in the country.
Friday’s NDPD builds bridges to earlier activities of the CADAP Component on Drug Policy over the two years, like the assessment of the national drug policies in all Central Asian countries, the national meeting in Dushanbe in March 2016, the first and the second Regional Drug Policy Dialogue held in March 2017 and October 2018 and a study tour to the Netherlands and the European Commission in Brussels organized by CADAP in October 2017.
During the meeting in Dushanbe, CADAP experts and the national partners from Drug Control Agency (DCA), Narcology Service, Penitentiary System, National Center for Monitoring and Prevention of Drug Use, AIDS Center, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Customs Service, Ministry of Education and Science, National Center for Legislation under the President of Tajikistan, State Control Service over Pharmacy Activity, local NGOs and development partners reportedly exchanged their views on developments in the national situation on the drug trends, policies and services and on regional and global drug policy. A special attention was paid to the early warning system and the drugs information monitoring systems in response to the New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).
CADAP experts made a presentation on alternatives to incarceration, evaluation of the opioid substitution therapy program and other related topics. The Tajik partners, in their turn, presented the current drug trends and develoments in the drug policy in Tajikistan. The participants discussed the country’s needs and follow up from Component 1 (and other CADAP Components).
Also, on November 14, CADAP experts from EU countries had meetings with partners from DCA, Narcology Service, National Center for Monitoring and Prevention of Drug Use, local NGOs and UNODC to discuss further collaboration in the drug policy.
CADAP 6 represents continuity of the EU policy and long-term engagement with Central Asian partners to help further strengthen their national strategies in drug and drug demand reduction policies. The program is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Consortium from the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, led by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
