European Drugs Agency welcomes Drug Observatories from 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries

Lisbon, 13^th of November, 2017. 2^nd COPOLAD II Annual Meeting of National Drugs Observatories (NDOs) gathers 71 leading authorities, 18 from Latin American Countries, 14 from Caribbean countries and 6 from the EU representing a great success maintaining for the second occasion so high response to the call from the region.

COPOLAD organizes this activity with the very close collaboration of the General-Directorate for Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID/CICAD/OAS). Meeting aim is to keep developing bi-regional cooperation and exchange between Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and European Union (EU) and in this case, aims to analyse the role of the National Drugs Observatories in shaping public politics as well as improve in the dissemination of the produced knowledge.

The opening ceremony was presided by João Castel-Branco Goulão, General-Directorate for Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD) from the hosting country Portugal. He was accompanied by Alexis Goosdeel, Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Marya Hynes, Acting Director of Inter-American Observatory on Drugs (OID /CICAD / OAS), María Sofía Aragón, Deputy Director of Institutional Relations of the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs (DGPNSD) of Spain, Germán García de la Rosa, Director of Unit for Public Administration and Social Affairs of the International Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), and Teresa Salvador-Llivina Director of COPOLAD.

The Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies (COPOLAD) managed by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), promotes this activity that will be held in Lisbon from the 13th to the 17th of November.

The role of the Observatories, the key to implementing national effective and evidence-based drug policies in Latin America and Caribbean.

Consolidation of national information networks on drugs is the key to facilitate Governments to take decisions on the basis of proven effectivity, as they improve and update common knowledge about the different challenges related to drugs. In the conclusions of the 1st COPOLAD II Annual Meeting of National Drugs Observatories held in 2016 in Jamaica as well as in the exploratory exercise among COPOLAD working groups, appears the need to maintain the exchange of methodologies and experiences as a way to consolidate National Drug Observatories and ready to boost on the application of drug policies in the region.

COPOLAD encourages the exchange of best practices and professionals’ capacitation in the National Drug Observatories

The meeting intends to achieve a double objective; on one side consolidate the role of the Observatories in designing politics by increasing methodological knowledge about information gathering & analysis and outcomes' dissemination, and on the other side, include training about Early Warning Systems and National Reports on Drugs production.

European Observatories from Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal and Spain also participate in this Meeting.