DEMAND REDUCTION

TOPICS:

• Direct Support for the Plans Devised by the Governments of the Member States to Prevent Drug Abuse
• Development of New Projects
• Missions and Consultations

This priority area includes education to prevent drug abuse/ community participation— human resource development and training; special programs for children, youth and other high-risk groups; research methods and the epidemiology of drug abuse; development and promotion of projects and planning of programs to reduce demand; communication strategies to prevent drug abuse.

Direct Support for the Plans Devised by the Governments of the Member States to Prevent Drug Abuse

1. Technical assistance missions in connection with the following:
   • A collective approach to drug-abuse prevention that enlists both the community and the schools (Central America).

   • National Epidemiological System (Ecuador).

2. Project execution:
   • Youth Encounter for Drug Abuse Prevention in an Indigenous Community (Cochabamba, Bolivia).

   • Third Epidemiological Survey on Drug Abuse in the Capital Cities of Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic; a workshop in Panama to examine the survey findings, and technical assistance missions to all the countries.

   • A project for children of and in the streets of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, supporting training of street educators and opportunities for them to exchange views; microenterprise; a pilot project on job training and social reassimilation, and publications.

   • Cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Brazil to promote the adoption of prevention programs at the state level.

   • Program of Drug Abuse Prevention Education in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (executed mainly by the Department of Education of the OAS).

3. Human-resource training:
   • Three courses on treating and rehabilitating drug users (two in the English-speaking Caribbean and one for Spanish speakers in Buenos Aires).

   • Eight fellowship recipients selected and funded to attend the course on "Certification of Expertise in Drug Addiction" in Madrid, Spain.

Development of New Projects

New project proposals were developed for the following:

• A program to provide training in issues related to the reduction of demand (presented to the IDB).

• Consolidation and expansion of the Youth Encounters Program (presented to the UNIDCP).

• Enhancement of research capabilities to assist demand-reduction programs (in the process of being presented to the UNIDCP).

• Continuation of treatment and rehabilitation courses.

• Women, the Family, and Drug Abuse.

• Central American Community Mobilization (in cooperation with the Centros de Integración Juvenil of Mexico).

• Continuation of the project on children of and in the streets (presented to the governments of Japan and the United States - now financed).

• Health communications for drug abuse prevention (the next phase of the project).

Missions and Consultations

• A three-week planning mission to Central America, together with the UNIDCP.

• Participation in two fora of specialists in reducing demand, organized by the UNIDCP (São Paulo, Brazil, and Nassau, The Bahamas).

• Participation in a world meeting on the epidemiology of drug use, sponsored by the United States National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Commission of the European Communities and held in Lisbon.

• Training for street educators (Rio de Janeiro).

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