Country overview: Romania
- Situation summary
- Data sheet
- Barometer
Contents
- Drug use among the general population and young people
- Prevention
- Problem drug use
- Treatment demand
- Drug-related infectious diseases
- Drug-related deaths
- Treatment responses
- Harm reduction responses
- Drug markets and drug-related offences
- National drug laws
- National drug strategy
- Coordination mechanism in the field of drugs
- Drug-related research
| Year | Romania | EU (27 countries) | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 2008 | 21 258 627 | 497 455 033 | Eurostat | |
| Population by age classes | 15–24 | 2008 | 14.6 % | 12.6 % 1 | Eurostat |
| 25–49 | 37 % | 36.3 % 1 | |||
| 50–64 | 18.2 % | 18.4 % 1 | |||
| GDP per capita in PPS (Purchasing Power Standards) 2 | 2007 | 42.2 p | 100 | Eurostat | |
| Total expenditure on social protection (% of GDP) 3 | 2006 | 14 % | 26.9 % p | Eurostat | |
| Unemployment rate 4 | 2008 | 6.4 % | 7 % | Eurostat | |
| Unemployment rate of population agends under 25 years | 2008 | 20.1 % | 15.5 % | Eurostat | |
| Prison population rate (per 100 000 of national population) 5 | 2006 | 166.8 | Council of Europe, SPACE 2006.1 | ||
p Eurostat provisional value.
1 2007 figures.
2 Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of economic activity. It is defined as the value of all goods and services produced less the value of any goods or services used in their creation. The volume index of GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) is expressed in relation to the European Union (EU-27) average set to equal 100. If the index of a country is higher than 100, this country's level of GDP per head is higher than the EU average and vice versa.
3 Expenditure on social protection contains: benefits, which consist of transfers, in cash or in kind to households and individuals to relieve them of the burden of a defined set of risks or needs.
4 Unemployment rates represent unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force. Unemployed persons comprise persons aged 15 to 74 who were: (a) without work during the reference week; (b) currently available for work; (c) actively seeking work.
5 Situation of penal institutions on 1 September, 2006.
Drug use among the general population and young people
The first general population survey was held in 2004. The survey revealed low lifetime prevalence rates for illegal drug use. Only 1.7 % of persons aged 15–64 reported use of cannabis at least once in their lifetime. For other illicit drugs (heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy and LSD) lifetime prevalence rates were below 1 % in Romania. In 2007, the second general population showed a lifetime prevalence of cannabis use of 1.5 % among the 15–64 year olds. As regards the other substances prevalence were all reported below 0.5 %.
National school surveys were conducted in Romania in 1999, 2003 and 2007 among a representative sample of students aged 15–16, as part of the ESPAD project. Generally the data show that the prevalence of illicit drug use is low in Romania compared to EU Member States, but the trends for drug use seem to be increasing for most drugs. So far, surveys indicated that cannabis is the most prevalent drug among students and that lifetime prevalence increased from 1 % in 1999 to 4 % in 2007 ( 3 % in 2003). Lifetime prevalence of inhalants was reported by 4 % (1 % in 2003) of the students and cocaine by 2 %. Last year prevalence of cannabis use was reported by 2 % of the sample and last month prevalence by 1 %.
Prevention
The main objectives and features of prevention policy according to the Romanian anti-drug strategy are: dissemination of information regarding the risks and effects of drug use and misuse; setting up a territorial network of drug prevention and counselling centres under the coordination of the National Anti-drug Agency; and drafting the standards for prevention interventions necessary for the process of monitoring and evaluation, thus ensuring the quality of drug use prevention activities. There were two main evolutions within the national anti-drug strategy for 2006: improvement of the geographical coverage of prevention projects; and continuation of the projects which proved to be effective in the previous years.
Schools represent the dominant setting for universal prevention activities. The standard information programmes continued to play a significant part in drug use prevention.
Selective prevention is mostly targeted at school dropouts, the prison population, high-risk teenagers, parents, Roma groups and pupils with academic problems. It enjoys visible, if limited, political resonance. National agencies and institutions with an exclusive focus on specific campaigns also carry out selective prevention programmes in recreational settings. The special characteristics of the prevention culture in Romania within the European context are: a very strong focus on mass media campaigns; information-only approaches; and increasing attention given to targeting vulnerable groups.
Problem drug use
Since the beginning of the 1990s, heroin has been the illicit drug associated with the highest level of drug-related problems. Most drug users taking heroin are injecting users. In 2007, a multiplier method estimated the number of problem drug users in Bucharest to be between 11 500 and 31 625 (with 16 867 as a central estimate). A rate was only calculated per age group 15–49 and thus is not comparable to other countries’ rates. It was calculated at 1.74 (with a 95 % CI of 1.18–3.26). The rate per 1 000 inhabitants aged 15–64 will thus be lower which places Romania among the metropolitan cities of Europe with the lowest prevalence of problem drug use.
The EMCDDA defines problem drug use as intravenous drug use (IDU) or long duration/regular drug use of opiates, cocaine and/or amphetamines. Ecstasy and cannabis are not included in this category.
Treatment demand
In 2007, besides the existing care services offered to the drug users through the medical units of the Ministry of Public Health, other integrated care services were provided through the Drug Prevention, Evaluation and Counselling Centres within the National Anti-drug Agency. By setting up and supporting the work of these centres, it was aiming to improve the medical and psychosocial services and to increase the access of the drug users to services. In 2007, the total number of all clients entering treatment was 1 891, out of which 1 126 were first-time treatment clients.
As in previous years, in 2007 opioids were reported as the primary drug among all clients entering treatment, at 70.8 %, followed by cannabis at 7.8 %. In 2007, among first-time treatment clients 68.3 % reported that opioids were the main drug, followed by 11.6 % for cannabis.
Furthermore, in 2007, 38 % of all clients entering treatment were less than 25 years. A higher percentage in age distribution was reported among new treatment clients, with 42 % under the age of 25. As regards gender distribution among all clients entering treatment, 81 % were male and 19 % were female. A slightly different gender distribution was reported among new treatment clients entering treatment with 83 % for male and 17 % for female.
Drug-related infectious diseases
The situation with regard to drug-related infectious diseases reveals that only a limited amount of data on the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C is available at national level. Preliminary data based on tests performed among users seeking medical assistance in Bucharest centres suggest: a very low prevalence for HIV: around 0.1 % (two positive case out of 136 IDUs tested). In most cases no confirmation tests were done, with the exception of the HIV cases. For HCV and HBV, the prevalence of infection rates among IDUs from Bucharest remained practically unchanged in 2007 as compared to the previous years (2003–06).
Drug-related deaths
The collection of data on drug-related deaths in Romania is under development. Romania’s intention in this field is to establish an operational framework for the DRD indicator and to improve the reporting capacity of its national experts. According to the data reported by the National Legal Medicine Institute and the Bucharest Public Health Directorate in 2007, 32 direct drug-related deaths were reported (in comparison to 21 cases in 2006 and 6 cases in 2005). As regards the distribution by age and sex, the majority of them were men with 96.9 % and the mean age was 21.2 years.
Treatment responses
The General Healthcare and Programme Department within the Ministry of Public Health, coordinates and manages healthcare in the treatment of problem drug users, as well as the national health programmes with therapeutic and social reintegration components. Furthermore, since 2005, the National Anti-drug Agency has coordinated activities in the drugs field at both national and local level. Drug treatment is predominately delivered in public medical units, which are financed from the public budget and are operated under the coordination of the Ministry of Public Health and starting with 2007, by the Drug Prevention, Evaluation and Counselling Centres under the coordination of the National Antidrug Agency. In addition, a number of NGOs provide drug treatment such as counselling and methadone substitution treatment. In general, drug treatment is funded by the national health programmes, through the specific sub-programme for drug treatment.
The drug treatment system in Romania is classified into three levels of assistance and care. The first level is the main access path to integrated care for drug users, and provides treatment at primary medical assistance units, emergency rooms, and general social services delivered by public, private and non-governmental organisations. The second level is called the integrated care services. These are referral centres, operated exclusively by public treatment services, which provide psychiatric units for primary or specialised care, or for mental health treatment. The third level relates to highly specialised care, and consists of inpatient detoxification treatment and residential therapeutic communities.
Methadone was introduced in 1998 and buprenorphine followed in 2007. The legal procedures for entering into substitution treatment were under revision in 2005, in order to simplify access to treatment.
However, the coverage rate is estimated to be low with 639 clients receiving methadone substitution treatment in 2007.
Harm reduction responses
Prevention activities targeting drug-related infectious diseases related to injecting, are financed mainly under the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and are implemented in Bucharest by the NGOs ARAS and ALIAT. Syringe exchange programmes are implemented only in Bucharest, which is considered to have the most serious problems related to injecting drug use. NGOs are the main service providers, carrying out outreach programmes, addressing injecting drug users and sex workers, as well as providing syringe exchange programmes, both in fixed locations and via street workers. In 2007, a new UNODC-funded syringe programme was set up. Together, NGOs provided services to more than 4 100 drug users and giving out 1.2 million syringes. Although the level of harm reduction activities in Bucharest improved in 2007, the coverage of the IDU population is estimated at 15 %. Sustainability of the programmes continues to be a significant issue, with funding being granted exclusively by foreign sponsors. Apart from the programmes in the capital city, no other syringe exchange programmes exist, and although there are cities where this type of service would be necessary, demands for setting the services up were small. The outreach programmes also provide counselling, education material and hepatitis A and B vaccinations. Finally, treatment of drug-related infectious diseases is estimated as being relatively accessible in case of HIV infections and difficult with regard to hepatitis C.
Drug markets and drug-related offences
Based on the cases solved in 2007, the anti-drug police units managed to identify a few of the routes of the most important drugs which are seized in Romania. Analysis established that the heroin seized was mainly manufactured in Afghanistan, and on a smaller scale in Turkey and Iran. Hashish seized comes from Morocco, Spain and Portugal. In the case of cocaine it is shipped from Columbia but also from Mexico, Bolivia and Venezuela. Ecstasy and amphetamines originate from the Netherlands and Belgium.
As regards the quantity of drug-related seizures in 2007, there was a significant decrease for most of the drugs seized — heroin, cocaine and amphetamines — compared to 2006. However, a significant decrease in the quantity of drugs seized was related to herbal cannabis, with a total of 6 kg in 2007 to a total quantity of 1 117 kg in 2006.
The price of the main drugs is gathered by the Romanian anti-drug police officers. In 2007, the price of cannabis resin was maintained at a constant level as compared to 2006. In the case of heroin, the average price was EUR 60/gram in 2006 as compared to EUR 35/gram in 2007. The average price of amphetamine registered in 2007 decreased from EUR 13/gram in 2006 to EUR 10/gram in 2007. A decrease in the retail price for LSD was also reported from EUR 35/unit in 2006 to EUR 33/unit in 2007.
National drug laws
In Romania, drug consumption per se is not an offence, but drug possession is. Following a change in 2004, penalties for possession are now separated by type of drug — ‘risk’ or ‘high risk’, and there are new separate concepts of user and addict, following DSM psychiatric concepts.
The jury can impose a sentence between six months and two years in prison or a fine in case of possession for personal use of risk drugs, or up to five years’ imprisonment for high risk drugs. From the procedural point of view, when a drug user is convicted for any of abovementioned offences, at the moment of imprisonment he or she can choose an integrated assistance programme over prison, and consent of the drug user is a prerequisite for inclusion such a programme. The provisions regarding alternatives to imprisonment for possession of drugs for personal use are stipulated in the law, but are not yet applied because the new Penal Code has not yet entered into force. From 2004, assets seized from drug offences should finance projects that target prevention or countering drug abuse or trafficking.
National drug strategy
The objectives of Romania’s second anti-drug strategy (2005–12) and its action plan for implementation (2005–08) are to develop an integrated system of institutions and public services to ensure the reduction of drug use, adequate medical, psychological and social assistance for drug users, and streamlined activities for preventing and countering the trafficking and production of illicit drugs and precursors. The short-term aims of the strategy are to maintain a low level of drug use in the general population, to decrease the number of new drug users and to reduce drug-related organised crime. The strategy is comprehensive and focuses on both licit and illicit drugs, covering drug demand reduction, drug supply reduction, international cooperation, information and evaluation, inter-agency coordination and providing the necessary resources. The action plan 2005–08 comprises a detailed list of activities with a systematic mention of a deadline and responsibilities for implementation.
Coordination mechanism in the field of drugs
In December 2002, the Romanian Government established the National Anti-drug Agency (NAA), a specialised legal entity under the coordination of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform. In accordance with its founding regulation, the NAA’s main tasks include overseeing a standard approach the fight against illicit drug trafficking and drug use, in accordance with the National Anti-drug Strategy, and coordinating the competent authorities, other state institutions and non-governmental organisations. The Agency also consolidates and monitors the results of cooperation between the competent Romanian institutions and foreign organisations working in the field. The Romanian Monitoring Centre For Drugs and Drug Addiction is located within the NAA as a directorate.
The National Anti-drug Agency has 47 centres for evaluation, prevention and anti-drug counselling — representing the Agency at local level (41 counties and six districts of Bucharest).
Drug-related research
The National Anti-drug Agency is the main institution involved in the initiation, development and coordination of drug-related research, although the National Institute for Health Research-Development (under the coordination of the Ministry of Public Health) is another key actor in conducting research in this area. The NAA and the Ministry of Health are the main sources of funding for drug-related research, particularly for the two population surveys and ESPAD studies, which are a priority of the current action plan. Dissemination of these drug-related research findings is mainly carried out through the national focal point, in particular through the use of dedicated websites and the organisation of conferences. Moreover, NGOs have conducted research projects to estimate the prevalence of drugs among groups at risk. These projects have been funded by international organisations: UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNODC, Global Fund to fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Recent drug-related studies mentioned in the 2008 Romanian National report mainly focused on aspects related to consequences of drug use.