Trans-Atlantic Executive Education Focuses on Effective Drug Policy, Governance

Trans-Atlantic Executive Education Focuses on Effective Drug Policy, Governance
The Falk College’s addiction studies program and SU Europe partnered with the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group and created a new trans-Atlantic executive education program focused on implementing effective drug policy and governance.

Participants from 20 European countries, Israel and the USA discussed the benefits and draw backs of more coherent policy approaches to licit and illicit drugs. The aim was to explore the benefits of coherent and integrated policies on different substances with a view to better risk management and creating more cost-effective and coordinated responses to tackle the effects of drug use in times of increasing poly-drug use. The activity was a follow-up to the successful Pompidou Group pilot training course in 2010.

According to Dessa Bergen-Cico, assistant professor of public health who led the program, the United States and Europe each have unique expertise and contributions to the interdisciplinary field of drug prevention, intervention and interdiction, with policies shaped by each country and region’s own political and social systems. However the stigma, judgment and politics of drug issues have long overshadowed the science of recovery, prevention and harm reduction.

The five-day summit took place Sept. 18-24 in Budapest, Hungary, with an agenda of interest to public health and drug policy professionals, researchers, addictions treatment providers and practitioners, as well as graduate students interested in health policy and cutting-edge addiction prevention and treatment. The program linked policy, research and science with a trans-Atlantic dimension focusing on the promising and problematic issues of developing more coherent drug policies.

By sharing insights on emerging trends and research about drug use, drug policies and treatment programs occurring in the United States and Europe, participants shared and learned about new and emerging research and innovative policies geared toward preventing, treating and reducing the use of addictive substances.
As the global scope of drug trafficking grows at an alarming rate, collaboration among U.S. and European drug policy experts is essential to develop consistency in relative policies. Discussions and training modules for the executive education summit will be led by U.S. and European experts and will include research presentations and best practices, complemented by site visits to harm-reduction and treatment programs. Topics will include prevention, harm reduction, effective treatment, neuroscience of addiction, current trends in drug use and trafficking by global regions.

The program’s purposeful location in Europe provides current and future professionals from the United States with opportunities to observe European drug services that are not permissible in the United States. Participants will have safe and structured opportunities to meet people struggling with addiction in a decriminalized context, offering professionals the opportunity to see treatment perspectives focused on public health vs. the criminal aspect of addiction.

“The translation of evidence-based scientific knowledge into solid and effective policies and treatment programs at the state, regional and local level is only as successful as the knowledge and skill of the mid-level professionals who ultimately implement and administer these policies and programs,” says Bergen-Cico, who notes there is a gap between the science of evidence-based prevention and treatment and what is put into practice. “To improve the quality of drug abuse prevention and treatment systems, we must develop a well-trained addictions workforce.”