Government is preparing drug prevention programme to reduce use.
Drug prevention proposals sought
23rd July 2013, 11:47
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«Over the past years, numbers of injecting drug addicts have come down; even so, we have the highest numbers of drug-related deaths in EU,» said interior minister Ken-Marti Vaher. According to him, it is important that drug use reduction be a systematic endeavour, carried out by a unified and able team.
Mr Vaher said it is vital, in fighting drug use, to achieve close cooperation between all parties: state agencies, private sector, society at large and various experts.
According to Tallinn Wismari Hospital psychiatrist Jaanus Mumma, drug addicts show up daily. In his opinion, it is most important for people to have the desire to deal with their problems.
Mr Mumma says drug addiction develops faster that alcohol addiction; therefore, he considers prevention vital.
According to Mr Mumma, drugs are easily available and addiction thus an ominous threat. He says addicts must have good treatment options. «It should not be that we wave a slogan and addiction goes away – drug addiction is a very widespread problem,» he stated.
Police and Border Guard Board criminal police press representative Kaarel Kuusk said that most often that are encountering large scale handling of drugs and psychotropic substances. «Ca 700 such cases are registered yearly; handling of small amounts is detected about a hundred times a year,» added he.
According to Mr Kuusk, drug crimes are mostly committed by young to middle-aged men; often the practice is continued after bearing the punishment. Increasingly, police is attempting to solve problems by also stripping the criminals of illegally gained assets i.e. criminal income – and not only the drugs – as, with loss of assets, risk levels are raised for offenders.
Mr Kuusk considers it most important, with prevention that new drug users would cease to be added to the ranks.
«Here, the main focus must be on home and school. Police work is not enough to solve the drug problem; it takes a broad approach,» said Mr Kuusk.
The drug prevention programme is being coordinated by the government. It has three strategic aims: reducing availability of drugs; prevent people from ever taking the initial dose; and helping addicts recover more effectively.
Governmental drug prevention committee is expecting people to send in proposals and feedback by August 19th.
Preventive programme goals by 2016
• Reducing and checking availability of drugs
• Early detection of addiction, subsequent intervention
• Helping addicts; reducing damage caused by them