Uruguay hosts a workshop on care practices for people with drug use problems   

More than eighty international experts on drugs have met at a regional workshop in Montevideo to exchange experiences on care practices for people with drug-related problems, especially women and vulnerable populations, as well as social inclusion programmes. The event, carried out in the framework of the European cooperation programme COPOLAD III, has promoted the incorporation of a rights-based approach and comprehensive care in the approach to problematic drug use, both in national and local responses.   

“Addressing harm and guaranteeing human rights is the task and responsibility of the state, of drug policies,” said Daniel Radío, head of the National Drug Secretariat of Uruguay.   

The meeting included keynote speeches and round table discussions, as well as the presentation of the Inclusion Guide for people with problematic drug use in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a gender and differential approach. During the days of the meeting, workshops were also held on the existing stigma towards women drug users. There was also an exchange of good practices for the improvement of the quality of care and social inclusion and critical routes for their implementation.   

Social innovation was present on the last day, in which experts from the Agirre Lehendakari Center, who design social innovation processes with a territorial approach, held a workshop on the subject linked to the theme of the workshop.   

The COPOLAD programme   

Social innovation is one of the approaches prioritised by the programme to accompany countries in the search for solutions to particularly complex drug policy problems. COPOLAD is already developing innovation laboratories in countries such as Colombia and Chile, where aspects such as the prevention of problematic drug use in young people and adolescents under the protection of the State or the improvement of policies towards young people at risk of being linked to networks of micro-trafficking and consumption of psychoactive substances are being addressed.   

“It has been four days of very intense work to advance a rights agenda that recognises the complexity and diverse needs of the people and groups we serve,” said Inés Elvira Mejía, COPOLAD III expert on the subject and one of the organisers of the event.