After the Rapid Policy Assessment (RPAR): Drug Policy Change and Advocacy in Szczecin, Poland

1. After the Rapid Policy Assessment (RPAR): Drug Policy Change and Advocacy in Szczecin, Poland Sobeyko J (1)(8), Leszczyszyn-Pynka M (1)(2), Duklas T (7), Parczewski M (1)(2), Bejnarowicz P (1), Chintalova-Dallas R (5), Lazzarini Z (4)(6), Case P (5), Burris S (3)(6). • The RPAR • Rapid Policy Assessment and Response (RPAR) is a community-level action research intervention process. An RPAR was conducted in Szczecin, Western Pomerania Province, Poland from January-October 2005. The aim of the RPAR was to diagnose the drug policy problems in the region and, working with a diverse Community Action Board (CAB), to create an Action Plan to improve the well-being of injection drug users in the region. • The RPAR findings included: • A lack of overall coordination between different help institutions about IDU clients and their problems in Szczecin city, including a failure to use alternatives to jail found in Polish law. • in the Rural and Regional Areas (RRAs) around the city, the RPAR uncovered increasing injected amphetamine use among young people, and insufficient knowledge on HIV and other blood borne viruses and risk behaviors such as sharing of injection equipment. Local health policy makers were unaware of the situation, and there were no services to address the amphetamine outbreak. RPAR RPAR Researchers and CAB NGO TADA became Polish member of a new Sex Workers’ advocacy network • CAB evolved into a service and training network providing an “Integrated Assistance Strategy For Drug Addicts And People Endangered by Drug Addiction In West Pomerania.” • The project was funded for an initial two years by the national government with a budget of ~ 27.000 USD. • The Network trains • NGOs • Social workers and probation officers • Law enforcement • The network created a concise guide to available services • The Network intervenes to link drug users to services and alternatives to jail: • In 2 cases, the Network was activated to keep a person on methadone out of jail • Network members showed the prosecutor the law allowing treatment instead of jail, and the prosecutor was willing to suspend prosecution • These provisions had not been used before in the region For RPAR Tools and Reports, visit www.rpar.org Initiatives in the Rural Areas • RPAR researchers and CAB members are working with rural towns to: • Expand the integrated training and assistance network to the whole region • Preparing a referral system, a guide to services, and monitoring of clients’ needs. We need local coordinators from municipalities and info on available help centers. • Already many of our Szczecin institutions are regional service providers (inpatient detox, methadone, out-patient AIDS clinic, etc.) • Build local coalitions for early social and health intervention • RPAR showed rural problems of amphetamine abuse, tainted drugs, teenage pregnancy • Analysis identified roots in poverty, social breakdown, lack of alternative activities and futures for young people • Assessment of services showed no strategy of family planning, no safe sex information, economic and embarrassment barriers to accessing condoms in stores. As part of a project funded by the Local Democracy Development Foundation and theNational Office for Counteracting Drug Addiction, RPAR researchers helped train stakeholders in 30 municipalities on the how to set up a municipal drug treatment program. This research was supported by NIDA/NIH Grant # 5 R01 DA17002-02 PI: LAZZARINI, ZITA . The findings and conclusions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of NIH, NIDA, or the US Government. The development of RPAR was supported by the International Harm Reduction Development Program of the Open Society Institute in 2001-2002. (1) Infectious Disease Prevention and Public Health Promotion Association AVICENNA, (2) Department of Infectious Diseases & Hepatology, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, (3) Temple University Beasley School of Law, (4) University of Connecticut Health Center, (5) Fenway Community Health Center, (6) Center for Law and the Public’s Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities, (7) Association for Health Promotion and Social Risks Prevention “TADA”; (8) Independent Laboratory of Family Nursing, Pomeranian Medical University