"We need to implement fairer drugs policies that consider the people and the environment as the target of governmental action"

• Which are the main axes that articulate the National Plan on Drugs for the next years in Argentina?

The main axes of the National Drug Demand Reduction Plan of Argentina are:

Prevention: preventive strategies are implemented in the areas of labour, education, deprivation of liberty, nightlife, art and sport, and for people in street situation, covering the problematic of excessive episodic alcohol use and prescription drug abuse.

Territorial approach: based on the communitarian treatment model, the aim is to reduce psychosocial vulnerability situations related to problematic drug use in the community.

Treatment: Through networking strategies, the aim is to promote quality treatment that is adapted to the needs of each person.

“Municipios en acción” Programme: the aim is to install the topic of problematic drug use in the municipal agenda, working with local governments in developing their drug plans.

Development of scientific knowledge: research and scientific knowledge are encouraged in order to dispose of evidence for decision-making.

Institutional articulation: The problematic is addressed from a multi-dimensional view and through a comprehensive public policy, coordinated between Nation, province, municipalities and civil society.

• During past December, SEDRONAR launched the Early Warning System for early detection of new psychoactive substances, emerging drugs and new patterns of use. How do you think that this new EWS can contribute to improving the level of information on drug-related problems in Argentina?

According to the recommendations of international organisms on drugs, from the National Directorate of the Argentinean Drugs Observatory (OAD), the EWS is created, formed –in this first organisation phase- by members from the National State. The EWS enables collecting, systematising, and managing reliable information on new psychoactive substances (NPS), emerging drugs, new patterns of use and commercialisation in the national territory. This strategy allows preventing and reducing the impact on public health of NPS thanks to early detection, risk assessment, communication and definition of the most appropriate action stratategies. The execution of the central functions of the EWS allows:

1) Appropriately detecting the supply of new psychoactive substances, emerging drugs, changes in patterns of use or commercialisation in Argentina; 2) Chemically characterizing the detected substances; 3) Evaluating the risks for the individual and the population that their use, production and commercialisation implies from a public health perspective; 4) Generating an early alert for any appropriate target (decision-makers, State organisms, healthcare providers or general population).

• What is your analysis about the aspects to prioritise in drugs policies in Latin America, considering the milestones achieved and challenges ahead?

After decades of implementing strategies and policies that only focused on law enforcement, prosecution and a punitive approach, it is necessary to:

(1) Implement fairer policies that consider the individual and his/her environment as the target of governmental action,

(2) Consolidate an approach focused on Public Health and human rights;

(3) Converge drug control policies with human development policies keeping the socio-economic consequences in mind and reiterate international conventions accepting that countries adapt their implementation to their own national realities.

We consider as aspects to prioritise, the need to increase and strengthen the development of policies that have the areas of most social vulnerability as targets; the advance in the development of harm and risk reduction policies and strategies, among wide and varied sectors of society; the exchange of strategies, views, and experiences between countries of the region with similar characteristics regarding drug problems with special attention to continuous capacity-building and the involvement of broad sectors of the society.

• To what extent can the CELAC-EU bi-regional dialogue and cooperation contribute to improving the effectiveness of drugs policies in both regions?

Argentina considers bi-regional dialogue and cooperation essential elements to address the World Drug Problem, promoting collaborative work based on the principle of common and shared responsibility with the aim of achieving the goals assumed. In this sense, our country assumed the co-presidency of the CELAC-UE Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs (CCMD). Cooperation between these two regions allows improving the effectiveness of public policies based on the exchange of experiences and best practices, especially of those programmes that have been monitored, allowing the generation of evidence-based public policies. Therefore, Argentina has incorporated this great challenge as a main axis of its National Drug Demand Reduction Plan.

• How do you value COPOLAD's contribution to solving the challenges of drug policies?

Argentina completed the process of separation of competencies between supply control and demand reduction, what has enabled the definition of more clear objectives and a greater advance in the recommendations by COPOLAD. This way, SEDRONAR, now denominated Secretary on Comprehensive Drugs Policies of Argentina (Secretaría de Políticas Integrales sobre Drogas de la Nación Argentina), is responsible for demand reduction.

Our participation in this programme coincides with two axes promoted by SEDRONAR as well as by the national management: on the one hand, the development and implementation of evidence-based public policies and, on the other, the revitalisation and reinforcement of the Argentinean Drugs Observatory.

In this framework, COPOLAD represents a place for exchange where synergies between scientific knowledge and public management are promoted, also promoting and intensifying professional capacity-building, political dialogue, coordination and cooperation between both regions, based on the principle of common and shared responsibility towards this problematic. The rapid changes within this phenomenon make States continuously rethink strategies and COPOLAD is, undoubtedly, a fundamental authority.