Countries

The Eurasian region includes Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA), which consists of 6 sub-regions: Balkans, the Baltics, Central Europe, European Countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Caucasus and Central Asia. Within the IDPC framework the Balkan sub-region falls within the South East Europe Region.

For the purposes of IDPC, the countries in Eurasia are therefore  Armenia, Azerbajan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia fall within the IDPC South East Europe Region.

Regional profile

In most countries of the Eurasian region illicit drug use is a relatively new social phenomenon, emerging after recent political upheaval. The sharp increase of the prevalence of drug use and the social and health problems related to it have caused a moral panic, and as a result has generated repressive policy responses based almost exclusively on law enforcement. Repressive drug laws have led to drug users facing numerous barriers to accessing health care services and represents an infringement of the right to the highest attainable standard of health.  Criminal sanctions against drug offenders are much harsher in most countries than in Western Europe.  Health and social services for drug users are less available and accessible due to lack of funding and political commitment from governments in this region.

Repressive drug control and HIV

Eastern Europe has witnessed the fastest growing HIV epidemic driven by the sharing of injecting equipment among drug users. The situation is especially dramatic in Russia and Ukraine, where more than 1 percent of the population is living with HIV. Repressive drug control policies has fueled the HIV epidemic by stimatising drug users and pushing them to the margins of society.

In some countries access to health services for drug users is further impaired by the requirement for official registration by health care and drug treatment providers.  This practice results in drug users avoiding contact with service providers out of a fear that their names may be provided to police or employers.  Evidence-based public health interventions are often banned (for exmaple opiate substitution treatment in Russia) or not funded by the government (needle and syringe exchange programs). Most programs depend on international donors for their funding (e.g. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria).
 
In most countries there are no public health alternatives to imprisonment and in some countries a significant proportion of prison population use illicit drugs inside correctional facilities. Prisoners in most countries have no access to evidence based drug treatment and harm reduction inside prisons, this leads to an increased risk of overdoses and blood borne viruses through the sharing of injecting equipment.

Harm reduction

Harm reduction as a theory and practice has gained more legitimacy since the end of 90s, especially among new EU member states. Most national drug strategies highlight harm reduction services as evidence-based, cost-effective interventions to reduce blood born infections in these countries. However, the coverage of opiate substitution therapy and needle and syringe programmes is significantly lower than in Western-Europe.