Drugs: Final conference of the Solidify project

By European Forum for Urban Security

Supervised Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) have proved to be a safe way to prevent harm related to drug use and insecurity linked to consumption in public spaces and trafficking. However, the establishment of a DCR can give rise to concerns among local residents to which local authorities must respond through dialogue and consensus-building measures. Beyond there is also the difficulty of political resistance as DCRs are still far from being widely accepted or even properly understood by some European political decision-makers.

The Solidify European project led by Efus since January 2018 will conclude in December with a final conference that will showcase the work produced through two years of intense exchange on how to foster local multi-agency partnerships around DCRs in order to capitalise the positive impacts they can have for urban security and public tranquillity.

The conference, to be held in Lisbon (Portugal) on 5 and 6 December 2019, will be an opportunity to exchange on innovative and human rights-based local drug policies, the particular role of DCRs in this endeavour, and the political challenges around this issue. It will be attended by representatives from local authorities from across Europe, policy makers from government institutions at national and European levels, civil society representatives, activists and researchers.