Macedonia: I have the right to treatment and compassion

"My name is Sashe. I’m a child without parental care. I started injecting heroin when I was 8. Before that I was inhaling glue and solvents. "HOPS" team made their first contact with me and other 76 children that use drugs, 32 of them have been contacted from January 2014 till now. There is also a small child at the age of 3 that inhales glue. Three of the children the "HOPS" contacted died in 2011 and 2012 from overdose. According to the information from the centers for prevention and treatment of people that use drugs not one child has been included for treatment with methadone and buprenorfin in the last three years. There are no accurate numbers in Macedonia for children that use drugs. The data that we have come, is either from the outreach work (data from the people that contact us and work with the issue of drug addictions), or from researches among the secondary school students. I will tell you my story and my problems, which are problems of all the children that used drugs, in the next videos".

"HOPS - Healthy Options Project Skopje“ is starting a video campaign “I have the right to treatment and compassion”, the campaign is supported by 18 civil society organizations. The aim of this campaign is to inform the public regarding the problem that children who use drugs face. According to ESPAD research in 2012, 8,7% of the interviewed children have used marihuana in their life; 3,75% have used ecstasy; 2,18 % have used inhalants; 0,6 % have used heroin and 0.6% have injected drugs. This year the new ESPAD research is conducted which will show us information about the current situation.

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