Effectively reducing the demand for drugs

COPOLAD has presented a new tool in Argentina for planning more effective drug demand reduction programmes. The project, which is funded by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, promotes the push for policies that reduce the supply and demand for drugs in Latin America; it also aims to reduce the social and health risks and damage drug use causes.

“Paso@Paso”, (Step by Step) as this tool is called, was presented at a workshop targeting Andean and Southern Cone countries. COPOLAD collaborated with the Argentine Secretariat for Comprehensive Drug Policies (SEDRONAR) in its design. “Paso@Paso” is a virtual instrument that guides the design and assessment process for an intervention in a given region and context. It also has the advantage of facilitating access to quality information as it has work forms, resources for analysing the quality of an intervention’s planning, in addition to mechanisms for sharing documentation with other professional teams.

Planning is essential in drug demand reduction programmes, both at the design, as well as at the objective definition stage. It is also a key factor in assessing the interventions it promotes given that it is responsible for ensuring that each intervention is developed consistently and realistically. Likewise, planning makes it possible to foresee future scenarios, maximise the benefits of an intervention and minimise possible difficulties.

This workshop, which was attended by officials from the National Observatories and the demand reduction area of the Drug Agencies from each country, is the first of the three meetings to be held on the subject, a second is scheduled for October in the Bahamas and a third for November in Panama.