THE NEED FOR HARM REDUCTION THE SITUATION IN BULGARIA Bulgarian DU Activism Milena Naydenova – Hope-Sofia

THE BENEFITS FROM HARM REDUCTION THE BENEFITS FROM HARM REDUCTION FOR DU: THE BENEFITS FROM HARM REDUCTION FOR SOCIETY:

CHEAPER THAN ANY OTHER DRUG POLICY AND THE ONLY ONE THAT LEADS TO REAL POSITIVE RESULTS Incarceration of DU is 10 times more expensive than the methadone treatment; Youngsters are IN THE SOCIETY, instead of being provided BY THE SOCIETY; Maintaining programs decrease the rates of drug use and the number of drug users;

Maintaining treatments substantially reduce the rates of injecting drug use and consequently (together with the NEP) – the spread of blood- born diseases, including Hep. C and HIV / AIDS; Substantially decreases the drug related crimes; Strikes a serious economic blow over the organized crime, and consequently decreases the corruption at highest political levels;

THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE FIELD OF DRUGS IN BULGARIA

LEGISLATION Less than a month ago the Bulgarian law on drugs was finally changed. It lead to: – Almost epidemiological spread of HIV among DU community and especially among the DU from the Roma minority; – Decreased substantially the effectiveness of the NEP, as the DU went deep underground; – Tremendous increase of the corruption in the police, the investigation, and the court, which became obvious even for the general public;

– Increase in the prisons’ population; – Thousands of cases against youngsters, arrested and charged with a possession of a narcotic substance that costs less than an EUR 1, thousands of young ruined lives and millions to the tax payers; AT THE SAME TIME NEITHER OF THE AIMED GOALS WAS UNDOUBTEDLY ACHIEVED!

The newly enacted law on drugs: – What provides: – for possession for personal use 0-5 years imprisonment, and / or probation, and / or a fine; – Main flaws: – again the only option is a criminal trial instead of an administrative violation; – there are neither specified quantities, no differentiation of the drugs. Everything is measured by its street price – the regulations are not clear enough;

NATIONAL POLICY National strategy on drugs: very expensive, well designed, but unrealistic, inapplicable, and obviously never meant to be implemented. The medical health care system: too centralized, too bureaucratic, and above all - the health insurances do not cover neither drug related health problem. Social and health governmental programs for ex DU or people on maintaining treatments: THERE ARE NOT ANY

HARM REDUCTION PROGRAMS TREATMENT PROGRAMS: – free state programs: 3 maintaining programs in 3 towns with 550 slots altogether, one inpatient clinic with 20 beds for more than 50,000 problematic injecting heroin users’ (NCA’s data): COMPLETELY INSUFFICIENT – private treatment programs and practices – financially unaffordable for the average Bulgarian families. No real competition, no governmental agency to control their prices: NOT ENOUGH EFFICIENT

SERVICE PROVIDING PROGRAMS – the few NGOs that introduced harm reduction in Bulgaria around a decade ago – they still work most efficiently; – the artificially created NGOs, by people, close to the Ministry of Health officials, after the big donors had entered Bulgaria – most of these programs need either reorganizing, or to be closed in favor of the efficiently working once.

OUR MAIN CONCERNS The corruption at middle and higher levels; There is neither a social agency, nor a public body, which to control the work of the institutions. Only the public control could increase the efficiency of their work but the organizing of such a body / coalition has been hardened and prevented by any legal means; No real competition in the private therapeutic programs and practices; There neither a governmental, nor a public agency, which to control the prices in the private therapeutic programs and practices;

The officials often refuse information to NGOs that are not under their protection, or give one that is out-of- date; The officials often defend somebody’s personal interests, as well as their own; Much more slots in the financially affordable and the free treatment programs are desperately needed; Service providing programs do not take DU in their teams.

H O P E - S O F I A Hope-Sofia is a 100% non-profit organization and the only working drug users’ organization in Bulgaria – we survive through donors; Hope-Sofia was registered in January, 2004 as a foundation in public disposal, while DU activism in Bulgaria started at first in WHAT WE DO: in 3 words: advocacy, information, education that eventually would result in: acceptance, better self-esteem, (re-)socialization.

T H A N K Y O U!