The EMCDDA and the Reitox network: towards quality achievement Sandrine Sleiman, Scientific Committee, Palmela, February 2008

Contents National focal points (NFP) Operating framework Challenges

What is a NFP? An information interface between the Member State and the EMCDDA. The NFPs play a double role: National authority for providing national drug information to the EMCDDA (under national responsibility) Ambassador of the EMCDDA at national level (under EMCDDA guidance)

Role of Reitox Mechanism for collecting and exchanging information between the EMCDDA and 30 countries: 27 EU Member States Norway 2 candidate countries European Commission

Prevention & Re- habilitation Activities Coordination Unit The REITOX Network Austrian Health Institute Scientific Institute Public Health National Board of Health National R&D Centre for Welfare & Health French Observatory for Drugs & Drug Addiction Secretariat Nat. Drug Commission Nat. Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction State Centre for Drug abuse Prevention Institute for Therapy Research University Mental Health Research Institute Health Research Board Estonian Drug Monitoring Centre Min. of Health Nat. Centre for Epidemiology Portuguese Institute for Drugs & Drug Addiction Government Deleg. to the National Plan on Drugs National Institute of Public Health Dept Min. of Health Nat. Bureau for Drug Prevention Institute Public Health Board of Ministers for Drug Dependencies and Drug Control European Commission Direction de la Santé Trimbos Institute SIRUS Min. of Health Drug Control Department National Commission for Dependencies National Centre for Addictions National Anti- Drugs Agency

Turkey TADOC – Turkish Academy against Drugs and Organised Crime Croatia Office for Combating Narcotic Drug Abuse The future new members of EMCDDA And Western Balkan countries

Basis for Reitox cooperation with NFPs Founding Council Regulation of the EMCDDA Operating framework for the Reitox system New reporting structure and tools EMCDDA and Reitox work programmes Grant agreements Guidelines for reporting

How does a NFP work? Appointed by MS (national responsibility) Funded by MS, with EMCDDA co-financing Grant agreement for an action, 50% co-financing, with max per country (2007) Procedure for definition work programme

Working towards a high-quality NFP - institutional challenges Institutional framework Legal base Clear mandate (incl. national responsibilities) Validity period of NFP nomination National political support Evidence-based decision-making with regard to drugs and drug addiction

Working towards a high-quality NFP - operational challenges NFP competences should mirror the EMCDDA subject areas Cooperation with national/regional drug information network(s) and scientific community Interagency cooperation Access to national and regional data Human and financial resources

The new Reitox operating framework Result of a 2-y process: evaluation, working group new operating framework, working group new reporting tools Reporting tools Grant agreement Tasking process Capacity building

Guidelines for national reporting Summary Part A: New Developments and Trends 1. National policies and context 2. Drug Use in the Population 3. Prevention 4. Problem Drug Use 5. Drug-Related Treatment 6. Health Correlates and Consequences 7. Responses to Health Correlates and Consequences 8. Social Correlates and Consequences 9. Responses to Social Correlates and Consequences 10. Drug Markets Part B – Selected Issues 11. Sentencing statistics Part C 14. Bibliography 15. Annexes

Outputs of REITOX cooperation Information collected and analysed at national level and submitted to the EMCDDA National Reports, Structured Questionnaires, Standard Tables Implementation of the epidemiological key indicators Data input into EMCDDA information systems Early warnings on new synthetic drugs to the EMCDDA Press clippings and replies to ad hoc requests

Reitox network challenges l Quality Assurance Policy - Quality reports - Implementation Needs Profiles l RTX Academy - Motivating by supporting national needs - Forging networking spirit

Data consistency Quality check Quality assessment Process Exploitation Quality feedback

Since 2001 success… Generally recommendation for improvement are applied regarding adherence to guidelines: -General layout -References to standard tables and structured questionnaires -Sources and use of Harvard for bibliography -Methodological information … -Efforts in writting the National report

Gaps to fill in… Respect of deadline Conciseness Weaknesses about lack of insight on trends and interpretation of results … In some countries, it is still too early to have many information on trends

2007 Reitox academies Reitox Academy on cannabis prevention and treatment (29-30, March 2007) Reitox Academy on public expenditure analysis in the field of drugs (May (TBC), Luxembourg) Reitox Academy Fonte training: introductory course (22nd May, heads of NFP meeting, Lisbon) Reitox Academy Fonte training: specialised course (8th, June, Ankara, Turkey) Reitox Academy on science-based practices (12-13 Sep, Oslo, Norway)

2008 and beyond RTX Academy on Media relations, TDI, analysis of TDI data using different methodologies, qualitative and quantitative and focus on data coverage. Towards further improvements of the academies: to link more regularly RTX Academies with Selected Issues to organise Academies for a broader audience (national experts) to provide with additional features (MP3 files) updated strategy document on RTX Academy training programme

To participate in the RTX network and to face challenges, usefulness and added values of the network should be perceived at national level