The Network for Addiction Care (UNAD) has shown its "concern" about the "growing trend to dilute the specificity of drug and addiction policies within broader Mental Health frameworks at the regional level", for which reason it plans to submit a manifesto to public administrations.
According to this NGO, it is "urgent" to open a reflection "for the present and future of public drug and addiction policies". In its opinion, this scenario could affect "the response capacity of a system that for decades has demonstrated its effectiveness from a comprehensive approach".
"In case addictions are integrated into broader Mental Health structures, it is essential to preserve the specificity of the field," UNAD has emphasized, also coinciding with the celebration, this Friday, June 26, of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. In its opinion, it is "essential" to maintain "its own approach and its specialized intervention model, ensuring that this integration does not dilute the specific responses, resources, and knowledge required by people with addiction problems".
In this context, the network has insisted that drug and addiction policies "require a specific look, capable of addressing the complexity of consumption and recovery processes, as well as the diversity of people's life situations". "When these problems are addressed primarily from a clinical logic or are integrated into the Mental Health system without sufficiently preserving their own identity, there is a risk that essential approaches will lose prominence," it has warned.
Among these approaches, UNAD has mentioned "prevention, risk and harm reduction, social inclusion, and the gender perspective, fundamental pillars of the current care system". In relation to prevention, it has stressed that "it must be understood as a transversal strategy, present throughout the entire life cycle and in the different environments where habits and social relationships are built, from the family and educational sphere to community, work, and digital spaces".
GENDER PERSPECTIVE
Regarding risk and harm reduction, the entity has highlighted that it is "an essential intervention to protect the health, rights, and lives of people, especially in a context of drug market transformation, the emergence of new substances, and evolving consumption patterns". As for socio-labor inclusion, it has emphasized that it is "an inseparable part of care processes", while, regarding the gender perspective, it has recalled that "women with addiction problems continue to face specific barriers to accessing resources, higher levels of stigma, and situations of particular vulnerability derived from structural inequalities".
After UNAD pointed out that it is necessary to "preserve stable planning, sufficient funding, and effective coordination between levels and areas of intervention", it has also highlighted "the essential role of the Third Sector specialized in the design, development, and evaluation of public policies on addictions".
Finally, it has announced that it is promoting a social media awareness campaign "that focuses on people on a day when attention is usually focused on illicit drug trafficking". Said initiative "seeks to remember the importance of placing people at the center of policies and interventions, as well as raising awareness about how language influences the construction of stigma and the social perception of addictions", it concluded.