The one-day colloquium on “Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities in Europe: evaluation and prospects” will be held on 3 April 2019 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France). It will feature exchanges on numerous European experiences, the different legislative frameworks and how they are changing, as well as on innovations and future prospects.
> A rich programme focused on the practice of cities
Several local experiences will be presented: Bern (Switzerland), which was the first Supervised Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) in Europe; Strasbourg, a flagship experience in France; and Liege, the first SDCF in Belgium.
There will be three round tables gathering city representatives and field practitioners:
- Opening up a local SDCF: the keys to succeed
Around the experiences of Barcelona, Frankfurt, The Hague and Montreal - SDCF: an uphill battle
Around the experiences of Athens, Bordeaux, Ljubljana and Marseille - Drug users, residents, citizens: how to live together?
Around the experiences of Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Mannheim and Paris
Willy Demeyer, Mayor of Liege and President of Efus, will give the closing address.
> Supervised consumption rooms and harm reduction
Efus leads the European project Solidify on the implementation and sustainability of SDCFs in several European cities, and the evaluation of their local impact. The project seeks to give host cities tools enabling them to locally support the establishment and running of such structures. Furthermore, the project fosters the exchange of practices among European cities that have set up an SDCF years ago, and others that are contemplating setting up one or have only just done so.
> Efus in favour of SDCFs to reduce harms
In line with the work carried out for years by Efus in favour of an approach to drugs based on harm reduction, the Executive Committee adopted in November 2018 a resolution supporting Supervised Drug Consumption Facilities. Efus says that the establishment of an SDCF must include specific support to the host local authority and the residents of the host neighbourhood.
Efus stresses that such schemes are part of a harm reduction strategy with regard to drugs and affirms that drug policies must be based on a balanced approach between prevention, repression and social cohesion. They must also be based on “solid cooperation between local, regional, national and international levels of government as well as law enforcement agencies and civil society to reduce drug demand and supply while decreasing the harm caused to our societies by traffic and consumption.”
> To register for the colloquium, please contact the association Ithaque either by email or phone: ithaque@ithaque-asso.fr
+33 (0)3 88 52 04 04 (registration is free)
