Today I visited the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon. Established in 1993, the EMCDDA is tasked with providing robust information and analytical tools. The Centre analyses data from the member states and publishes a vast range of documents and statistics which allow inter-country comparisons. It works on the principle that sound information is key to effective drug strategies.
I met with Brendan Hughes, a senior researcher and data analyst who has been working at EMCDDA since 2001. Brendan published inter alia the first European quantitative comparison of drug law sentencing and outcome statistics in 2009. He manages the European Legal Database on Drugs, which holds overviews of the European member states and analyses on a variety of topics (e.g. regulatory frameworks, use, possession and threshold quantities, trafficking laws, drug classifications and procedures for classifying new substances, alternatives to punishment, substitution treatments). Brendan's experienced insight reinforced the importance of debunking political myths, gave me sobering reflections about the use of statistics and gave me pointers and ideas to work on around the field of public health and diversion from the criminal justice system. Talking to him crystallised in my mind what makes the Portuguese experience truly unique.
At the EMCDDA I also had the pleasure of meeting researcher Deborah Olszelweski, a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, who did a Fellowship on drugs strategies in the States some years back and who still, unsurprisingly, has very fond memories of her experience and of the Trust.
I then spent many happy hours (yes, I love libraries!) in the EMCDDA Documentation Centre, with the courteous help of Vaughan Birbeck, Information management support officer. I will be making use of the EMCDDA digital resources but also hope to return to their offices to spend some more time scouring through their hard copies collection of books and journals.
My thanks also go to Monika Blum, EMCDDA senior policy officer to the Management Board, for all her help in facilitating my visit and meeting her colleagues on what has been another very interesting, rich and intense day of research.
I met with Brendan Hughes, a senior researcher and data analyst who has been working at EMCDDA since 2001. Brendan published inter alia the first European quantitative comparison of drug law sentencing and outcome statistics in 2009. He manages the European Legal Database on Drugs, which holds overviews of the European member states and analyses on a variety of topics (e.g. regulatory frameworks, use, possession and threshold quantities, trafficking laws, drug classifications and procedures for classifying new substances, alternatives to punishment, substitution treatments). Brendan's experienced insight reinforced the importance of debunking political myths, gave me sobering reflections about the use of statistics and gave me pointers and ideas to work on around the field of public health and diversion from the criminal justice system. Talking to him crystallised in my mind what makes the Portuguese experience truly unique.
At the EMCDDA I also had the pleasure of meeting researcher Deborah Olszelweski, a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, who did a Fellowship on drugs strategies in the States some years back and who still, unsurprisingly, has very fond memories of her experience and of the Trust.
I then spent many happy hours (yes, I love libraries!) in the EMCDDA Documentation Centre, with the courteous help of Vaughan Birbeck, Information management support officer. I will be making use of the EMCDDA digital resources but also hope to return to their offices to spend some more time scouring through their hard copies collection of books and journals.
My thanks also go to Monika Blum, EMCDDA senior policy officer to the Management Board, for all her help in facilitating my visit and meeting her colleagues on what has been another very interesting, rich and intense day of research.