Expert conference “New Drugs - New Challenges”

On 17 November 2023, at the premises of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration in Zagreb, an expert conference titled “New Drugs - New Challenges” was held.

NIt was attended by a total of 59 participants, 40 in person and 19 online. They included coordinators for addiction issues from probation offices, civil servants from the Central Office for Probation and probation offices, as well as associates of the probation service from the County Court in Velika Gorica, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences of the University of Zagreb, Central Office for the Prison System, Lepoglava Penitentiary and Zagreb Prison, Institute for Social Work - Regional Office Donji grad, Zagreb County Family Centre, Association for Creative Social Work and Social Support Society. 

In the morning part, interesting and useful lectures were held by three lecturers, each from the point of view of their respective institutions and the work they do. 

Ms Lara Ježić from the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Division for Combating Drug Abuse, held a lecture entitled “New psychoactive drugs”, referring, among other things, to market development and the market, prevalence and basic chemical groups of new psychoactive substances in the EU and Croatia, the EU Early Warning System and the more recent public health warnings. 

Ms Ljubica Tomašek from the Centre for Forensic Examination, Research and Expertise “Ivan Vučetić” gave a lecture on “New psychoactive substances - division and review of prevalence”, speaking, among other things, about the goal of the emergence of new psychoactive substances, their division, prevalence and forms, their effects and the mechanism of control of the new psychoactive substances in Croatia. 

Dr Mirjana Orban, MD, from the Teaching Institute of Public Health “Dr. Andrija Štampar”, Department for Mental Health and Addiction Prevention, held a lecture on “Experiences in working with addicts and new drugs”, where she shared her personal professional experience of direct work with drug addicts.

As part of the discussion, Dr Dijana Jerković from the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, and Ms Daniela Glogolja from the Association for Creative Social Work also shared their experiences.

The afternoon part of the meeting consisted of an interactive workshop titled “Our strength - that’s us!” for the coordinators for addiction issues from probation offices and civil servants of the Central Office for Probation.

All probation officers as well as associates of the probation service contributed to a professional and friendly atmosphere, and the expert meeting was assessed as interesting and useful, with the recommendation to organise further professional events related to this topic.

The conference was organised within the framework of the project “Strengthening human rights protection and public safety by improving the capacities of the Croatian probation service”, financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.