06/02/2014
In Madrid this week, the programme for prevention of drug use in Latin America and the European Union led by FIIAPP, COPOLAD, is holding a dialogue and experience sharing bridge conference between researchers working in the field of Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) in the two regions.
Encuentro de investigadores sobre RDD en AL y UE organizado por COPOLADConference of DDR researchers in LA and EU organized by COPOLAD.
More than 60 professionals dedicated to the field of Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) in Latin America and the European Union are meeting this week in Madrid at the pioneering LA-EU Research Networks conference “Evidence-based public policies: progress and challenges”, organized by COPOLAD, for the purpose of promoting and facilitating contacts and cooperation between the researchers in attendance. “Since the purpose of COPOLAD is to create dialogue, the idea of organizing this conference arose in response to the Research Networks’ need to share common interests and research”, emphasized the director of COPOLAD, Teresa Salvador.
This event, led by the Spanish Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs (DGPNSD), also seeks to have the attendees share lessons learnt during their research in order to carry out a critical analysis of the process of transferring scientific results to public policies and their main stakeholders: scientists, public policy planners, elected officials and the news media, among others. “Within COPOLAD, there is an area working to emphasize the availability of clear information for drug policy development which is based on scientific evidence”, added Salvador.
In addition to experts from the principal scientific societies and European and Latin American research networks working in DDR, representatives of relevant international bodies in this field will also be participating in this event, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Inter American Commission for Drug Abuse Control (CICAD – OEA).
“We hope that with this type of meeting we can combat addiction to the legal and illegal substances circulating in our countries”, indicated the Delegate of the DGPNSD, Francisco Babín, at the opening ceremony for the event, which ends Friday.
