Activities

In Panama, the workshops series in the capacitation of the virtual tool "OneStep@ATime", with previous editions in Argentina and The Bahamas, closes. Its objective is to guide the process of design and evaluation of an intervention in a given territory and context, facilitating access to quality information and the availability of instruments to analyse the quality of intervention planning in these areas, guaranteeing that it is developed in a coherent and realistic manner.

COPOLAD participates in the framework of this Conference at The international symposium on drug checking, which takes place on the 22 October. This symposium is organised by the EMCDDA in collaboration with SICAD, COPOLAD and the Trans European Drug Information (TEDI) network.

Recent changes in Europe’s cocaine and synthetic drugs markets pose a challenge for traditional drug monitoring. Data from drug checking services can provide valuable information on drug market dynamics at user level. However, drug checking as an intervention in recreational settings remains a topic of much debate in the media, among policymakers and researchers worldwide.   

The aims of this symposium are: to explore drug markets dynamics with an international comparison of cocaine and MDMA trends, purity and adulteration in producing and consuming countries through European, Colombian and Australian drug checking test results; and to discuss the challenges and opportunities of drug checking within national drug policies.

2nd edition of the Workshop on Planning in Drug Demand Reduction: Scope and Use of the planning tool “OneStep@Atime”, addressed to the Caribbean countries.

Since the inception of COPOLAD most countries have noted the importance of strengthening training in planning and evaluating drug strategies, plans and programmes, in a context of little opportunities for training in this area. Within this framework, we have tried to define a response that, in addition to being useful and easy to access and manage, could respond to this need.  Representatives of the majority of countries active in the first phase of COPOLAD participated in the process of identifying needs and possible responses, and from this process the idea of developing a user-friendly support management tool raised. As a result of this extensive process, we have been able to develop the interactive support tool "OneStep@atime". This instrument aims at improving professional skills for the design, planning and evaluation of interventions in the field of drug use. To this end, it offers information on the different phases of the design of a drug demand reduction intervention, as well as a working space for designing each intervention. The training methodology developed in the workshop combine theoretical presentations with practical activities to generate skills in the use of the application and make affordable the planning of quality interventions in DDR.

In coordination with institutions of the Argentine Nation specialized in the matter, this fourth edition of the COPOLAD Annual Weeks in Chemical Precursors has the participation of more than 80 experts and 40 countries and organizations of CELAC and the EU, which address issues such as: collaboration with industry, the role and work of forensic laboratories, legislation and inter-agency cooperation on precursors; the challenge of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), among others that are of interest to both regions which will involve daily work sessions in plenary and field visits. In this context, the progress made by the COPOLAD working groups on precursors is also presented. 

COPOLAD brings together 15 CELAC countries in Brussels to address the progress made in the field of chemical precursors, within the framework of COPOLAD. Best practices and lessons learned for the control of illicit trafficking of chemical precursors, the focus of this joint meeting. Almost twenty participants have the opportunity to visit the main European institutions present in Brussels.