The conference was attended by 100 participants representing the Network of Provincial Drug Information Experts, network of communes monitoring drugs and drug addiction at local level, NGOs and Polish drug services. There were also experts from 11 countries: Austria, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey, Romania, United Kingdom and Italy and an official from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The purpose of the conference was to share the experience of monitoring drugs and drug addiction in Poland and Europe and discuss possible developments of drugs strategies. Respective conference sessions were devoted to the principles and ways of monitoring drugs and drug addiction at local and regional level with particular emphasis placed on the Italian model. There were also discussions regarding the evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of drugs strategies including the Polish approach. The meeting ended with the analysis of examples of national drug monitoring models and responses to identified problems.

During the conference the Information Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction of the National Bureau for Drug Prevention presented to the participants a Polish version of the EMCDDA handbook entitled “Building a national drugs observatory”.

The wide range of drug monitoring models presented during the conference confirmed a multidimensional nature of the drugs problem along with a diversity of institutional responses to the drug-related consequences. Collecting and analyzing drug-related data are therefore of key importance in the process of implementing effective and adequate remedial action. It is possible thanks to ongoing updates on drugs and drug addiction both at national as well as regional and local levels.

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