The conference discussed the problem of drugs and drug addiction with particular emphasis placed on the local monitoring of the phenomenon.

The conference was organized by Ms Marta Mordarska, Provincial Drug Expert along with the Department of Health and Social Policy of the Marshal Office of Malopolskie province.

The meeting was opened by Mr Wojciech Kozak, Member of the Board of Malopolskie province. Mr Kozak welcomed the conference participants and declared his personal involvement and support for drug prevention and combating drugs.

Ms Mordarska presented a publication entitled “Monitoring drugs and drug addiction in Malopolskie province”. The publication contains information on research projects commissioned by the National Bureau for Drug Prevention, essential data of the Report on the state of drugs and drug addiction in Malopolskie province and the framework for communal reports on the state of drugs and drug addiction.

Mr Artur Malczewski of the Information Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction outlined, among other things, the systemic solutions on monitoring drugs and drug addiction in Europe and Poland, including the latest data on the scale of the drug problem. Moreover, Mr Malczewski presented the recent legislative initiatives on drugs and drug addiction.

Mr Janusz Gruca, a sociologist, presented the key components and principles of creating communal drug reports as well as important data sources on the drug problem. At the end of the conference, representatives of communal governments actively joined the discussion. The conference participants were particularly interested in the planned changes to the Act on counteracting drug addiction. During the discussion the participants expressed a need for holding more training courses on substance addiction problems.