Support for drug addiction rehabilitation and treatment in prisons

In Central Asian countries, drug addiction, the heroin dependence rate and the consequent transmission of HIV are very high. Opioid trafficking is also one of the main sources of income for organised crime. All of this contributes to the legal, economic and social instability of the region. 

The Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP) is a European Union initiative that has been promoting the development of effective drug demand reduction policies, based on evidence and good practices to strengthen the ability of governments of the Central Asian countries to deal with the drug phenomenon in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. It is in its seventh phase, which is being led by FIIAPP. CADAP has been collaborating with Kyrgyzstan, through different phases of the programme, in the introduction of drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation programmes for the prison population. In Kyrgyzstan, where HIV is concentrated in prisons mainly caused by injection drug use, there is a prison methadone maintenance therapy programme, as well as an abstinence-oriented therapeutic community based on the 12-step model called “clean zone” that was an initiative of CADAP. 

Representatives of the EU delegation in Kyrgyzstan, together with authorities from the Kyrgyz Ministry of the Interior and members of the CADAP programme, have visited the “clean zone” of the men’s wing in Moldovanovka prison, and the “clean zone” of the women’s wing in Stepnoe prison, both in Chuy province. 

This is a field visit that is part of the needs assessment process for this phase of the programme, within the framework of Kyrgyzstan’s national drug strategies and prison action plans. The purpose of these visits is to monitor the situation of drug users in Kyrgyz prisons and learn first-hand about the challenges they are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.