Expert meeting: Health responses to new psychoactive substances (NPS), 28-29 October 2015, Lisbon
Belgium
Bulgaria
Health responses to NPS
EMCDDA expert meeting, 28-29 October 2015, Lisbon
Information on health responses to the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) is emerging but, in many cases, remains anecdotal. This EMCDDA meeting brings together European health professionals and researchers to explore the challenges, needs and best practice around responding to NPS in a variety of health and intervention settings. Read more >>
Related links
LIVE!
We will be tweeting live from the meeting which starts on 28 October at 9:00 (Western European Time).
Tweets about #NPShealth AND from:@emcdda_live
Update: report coming shortly
(Lisbon, 9 June 2016) To mark World Drugs Day 2016, we will soon be publishing a report and an online Perspectives on Drugs issue, based on the outcomes of this meeting. Check back here for more information or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
Put your questions to the experts
We are collecting questions for the experts in advance. Send a tweet to @emcdda_live and use hashtag #NPShealth. The experts will endeavour to answer your questions during the meeting.
About the experts
Fifteen European experts will focus on responding to NPS in the following settings:
- family and school
- accident and hospital emergency departments and poison centres
- bars, clubs and festivals
- sexual health clinics, specialised treatment centres, low-threshold agencies
- prisons
- helplines and e-health.
Presentations
Presentations will be made available here after the meeting.
Download the detailed agenda (PDF).
Wednesday 28 October 2015
Responses to NPS in emergency departments, nightlife settings and on the Internet
- Christopher Yates (Emergency Medicine Department/Clinical Toxicology Unit, Hospital Universitario Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain)
- Rainer Schmid (Toxicologist University of Vienna, ChEck iT!, Austria)
- Cristiana Pires (APDES/CHECK!N) and Maria Carmo Carvalho (Catholic University of Porto)
- Emma Crawshaw (Crew2000-UK)
- Tom Evenepoel (Druglijn, Belgium)
Responses to NPS in sexual health clinics and prisons
- Fred Bladou (Aides, France)
- David Stuart (Chelsea & Westminster hospital NHS Foundation Trust, 56 Dean Street GUM/HIV, Substance Use Lead, United Kingdom)
- Kieran Lynch (Criminal Justice Programme Manager. Public Health England, United Kingdom)
Responses to NPS in drug treatment and low-threshold settings
- Jean-Paul Grund (‘NPS in Europe’ EU-funded project)
- Robert Csák (Alternatíva Foundation, Hungary)
- Rama Kamal (Novadic-Kentron Addiction Care network, Vught, the Netherlands)
- Owen Bowden-Jones (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Presentation on meeting outcomes
- Harry Sumnall, Amanda Atkinson (Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom) and EMCDDA
Health and drug interventions to New Psychoactive Substances — National Focal Point Survey 2015
About the meeting
The availability of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Europe has rapidly increased over the last decade, as seen by the growing numbers of seizures reported to the EU Early Warning System (EWS) and via standard monitoring mechanisms. The number of new substances detected also continues to grow, with 101 new drugs detected in 2014.
In European countries, initial responses to the emergence of NPS have been predominantly regulatory in nature, focused on tackling their supply using legislative tools. Increasingly, however, attention is being paid to developing targeted education and prevention activities, as well as training and awareness-raising activities for professionals.
Information on health responses to NPS use and harms is emerging but, in many cases, remains anecdotal. Data reveal that drug users presenting, or at risk of, NPS-related harms are observed, or may seek help and information in, a variety of settings.
From 28–29 October, the EMCDDA will be organising, for the first time, a meeting dedicated to the topic of health responses to NPS. The event aims to identify existing best practice, training and intervention needs as well as related policy considerations for Europe.
The meeting brings together 15 European health professionals and researchers experienced in providing interventions relating to NPS, or knowledgeable in this domain. They will focus on responding to NPS in a variety of health and intervention settings (family and school; accident and hospital emergency departments and poison centres; bars, clubs and festivals; sexual health clinics, specialised treatment centres, low-threshold agencies; prisons; helplines and e-health).
The meeting will lay the foundations for an EMCDDA publication in 2016 addressing NPS-related harms and health-related interventions. The publication will be practice-oriented and of added value to professionals working in these settings.
About the EMCDDA
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is the reference point on drugs and drug addiction information in Europe. Inaugurated in Lisbon in 1995, it is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. Read more >>
Contact
The EMCDDA is located at:
Praça Europa 1, Cais do Sodré
1249-289 Lisbon
Portugal
Tel. (351) 211 21 02 00
