A two-day informal meeting of national drug coordinators from EU Member States was launched in Bratislava today. The topic is an integrated approach to health and social care for drug users. The host of the event is within the SK PRES department of health as a professor of state drug policy. The meeting was opened today and led by the Director General of the Section for Health of the Slovak Republic, Boris Bánovský, who presented his presentation in the opening discussion panel. The main theme of our meeting is an integrated approach to care for drug users, not only at national but also at pan-European level. We try to apply a special approach to the issue of drug use. The aim is to heal these people and at the same time to give them support to move in a different direction in life. stated B. Bánovský. Another speaker was the representative of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Roland Simon. The participants agreed that the situation is specific in each Member State but that the link between medical and social care needs to be addressed. Each Member State is seeking social reintegration while at the same time curing problematic and dependent drug users, including users affected by concomitant diseases. The common European objective should be to develop and expand integrated care models covering the needs related to mental and physical health problems, rehabilitation and social support. The main expert of the MZ SR on drug addiction medicine and the director of the Center for the Treatment of Drug Addiction Ľubomír Okruhlica, experts from the Medical Psychiatric Institute in Predná Hora, and representatives of civil associations working in the field of harm reduction and risks associated with the use of psychoactive substances will also speak at the meeting.
