NPS Correlation report

Publications

NPS Correlation report

21 April 2016

By Lenka Vavrincikova, Hana Fidesova, Barbara Janikova & Jean-Paul Grund

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are becoming a major challenge to public health and drug policies in Europe and have become a high priority in Europe. The “new psychoactive substances in Europe” project (NPSinEurope.eu) aims to contribute to the development of innovative and effective health promotion interventions targeting emerging NPS use in Europe, in particular in response to more hazardous patterns of use and in vulnerable populations. The overall project objectives are:

1. provide an overview of the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in populations of People Who Use Drugs Heavily (PUDH) in the EU28 countries and identify the associated risks for harm and the existing legislative, preventive and harm reduction responses;

2. assess, identify and describe harmful patterns of NPS use among PUDH, NPS related risks and harms in 5 selected countries, as well as identify and prepare adequate tailored public health responses;

3. develop and implement targeted pilot interventions for prevention, demand reduction and harm reduction targeting NPS use among PUDH;

4. build best practice guidance and capacity among harm reduction workers towards improving harm reduction responses; and,

5. disseminate the results of the Europe-wide inventory, 5 country assessment and local pilots on public health responses, through an online resource centre and a training manual, and at regional and national conferences.

This document concerns the second objective, a “Rapid Assessment and Response” (RAR) of harmful patterns of NPS use and the associated risks and harms in the 5 selected countries, as well as the identification and preparation of adequate tailored public health responses.

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