First Meeting of the Newly Elected Civil Society Forum on Drugs

Dianova International continues to be a member of the CSFD for the period 2018-2020

CSFD

CSFD members represent different stakeholders and policy options but all have drug-related activities as the core focus of their agenda (treatment, prevention, reintegration, etc.)

The first meeting of the newly formed Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) took place the 3-4 July in Brussels, Belgium, at the premises of the European Commission. Dianova International, member of the CSFD since 2013 has been re-elected for the period 2018-2020, attended this inaugural meeting.

The CSFD expert group to the European Commission is a broad platform for a structured dialogue between the Commission and the European civil society which supports policy information and formulation through practical advice in the area of drug policy.

This first meeting served to elected the new Board and establish the working groups, which were configured as follows:

  • Chair: Laurene Collard, Fédération Addictions (France)
  • Vice-Chair: Athanasios Apostolou, Diogenis (Greece), elected Vice-Chair of CSFD
  • Working Group 1: EU Drug Strategy and Action Plan – Iga Kender-Jezierska, YODA (Poland)
  • Working Group 2: Institutional Relations with the EU and International Structures – Marie Nougier, IPDC (UK)
  • Working Group 3: Civil Society Engagement in National drug Policies – Katrin Schiffer, Correlation Network (Netherlands)
  • Working Group 4: Quality Standards – Matej Kosir, Institut Utrip (Slovenia)

Given Dianova International’s area of expertise and positive experience within the working groups during the previous period, for the upcoming years we will continue to form part of the Working groups 2 and 3. During the meeting, the working groups debated each terms of reference, briefing papers and plan of activities for the new mandate.

Furthermore, during the CSFD meeting the European Commission provided updated information on the organisational and funding novelties for drug-related aspects within the European Union.

From Dianova International we value very much the contribution provided by the CSFD and look forward to continuing the good work!