News
New online offer of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
With the Healthy Nightlife Toolbox (HNT), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has launched a new online service. The website targets local, regional and national policy makers and prevention workers, to help reduce harm from alcohol and drug use in nightlife settings. General information on prevention as well as good-practice examples are summarized and presented.
The online tool can be found at:
European report on interventions concerning NPS
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has published a new report summarizing the current situation in terms of NPS use and reviews available health- and drug-related interventions in that area. Good practice examples from different European countries are described.
The report is available under the following link:
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2812/TD0216555ENN.pdf
International ESPAD report
In September 2016, the international report of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) 2015 was launched in Lisbon. Nearly 100,000 pupils from 35 countries participated in the most recent wave of data collection. Among others, the study assessed information on the consumption of new psychoactive substances and pharmaceuticals.
The full report can be accessed via the following link:
http://www.espad.org/sites/espad.org/files/ESPAD_report_2015.pdf
Consumption of new psychoactive substances and pharmaceuticals among teenagers in Bavaria
The Free State of Bavaria was the only German federal state taking part in the “European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs” (ESPAD) in 2015. Within the scope of this written survey of overall 2,013 students of grade 9 and 10, data concerning the consumption of new psychoactive substances and pharmaceuticals was gathered, among other information.
The complete report can be accessed under the following link (available in German only):
http://ift.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Literatur/Berichte/Bd_188_Espad-Bayern-2015.pdf
Law concerning new psychoactive substances
On May 4th, 2016 the German cabinet adopted the bill of the Federal Ministry of Health directed at fighting the dissemination of novel psychoactive substances (“Neue-psychoaktive-Stoffe-Gesetz” – NpSG). This bill aims at an extensive ban on the purchase, the possession as well as the trade of novel psychoactive substances. It is the first time that a ban on novel psychoactive substances concerns entire substance groups. The overall objective of the bill is to fight the dissemination of novel psychoactive substances and thus, limiting their availability as drugs and stimulants.
Both substance groups, that are to be banned, are listed in an appendix of the bill:
1. chemical compounds derived from 2-Phenethylamine (i.e. substances related to amphetamine, including cathinones)
2. synthetic cannabinoids (i.e. substances imitating the effects of cannabis)
The following link will provide further information (available in German only):
The bill can be accessed via the following link (available in German only):
31st regulation concerning the changing of the policies on drugs
On May 13th, 2016 the Federal Council of Germany passed the 31st Amending Regulation on Narcotic Drugs. This amendment now leads to an inclusion of one substance under schedule I (narcotics not eligible for trade and medical prescription) and five substances under schedule II (narcotics eligible for trade but not for medical prescription) of the German Narcotics Act (BtMG).
The regulation can be found via the following link (available in German only):
https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/drucksachen/2016/0101-0200/147-16.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1
European Drug Report
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) presented the annual report on the drug situation in Europe on May 31th, 2016 in Lisbon.
Topics such as the newest trends regarding the drug supply in Europe, the harm and problems caused by drugs as well as the most recent developments in the field of drug policy, drug prevention and drug therapy are discussed. Another main issue is the domain of novel psychoactive substances.
The English version of the European Drug Report can be found here:
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2637/TDAT16001ENN.pdf