Unlike the policy which maintains that without supply and demand, there is no harm for users and society, harm reduction programmes aim to reduce the harmful health, social and economic consequences of drug use, and they have been accepted and recommended by many international organisations, including the World Health Organisation.
The WHO has been implementing such programmes in Croatia since 1998, distributing between 30,000 and 40,000 new syringes and needles and collecting about 20,000 used ones every year, said Sinisa Zovko of the Croatian Red Cross (HCK), a physician who works with addicts.
Last year, the HCK distributed 10,500 condoms and organised the cleaning of public premises as well as testing for transmitted diseases.
Apart from the HCK, harm reduction programmes are being implemented by nongovernmental organisations in Split, Rijeka, Zagreb, Pula and Osijek, in cooperation with the Health Ministry and the Croatian National Institute of Public Health.
Last year, about HRK 4.5 million (approx. EUR 600,000) was spent to implement those programmes.
According to estimates, there are about 20,000 addicts in Croatia, of whom 80 per cent are addicted to opiates, and between 350,000 and 380,000 alcoholics. Forty-five per cent of addicts are believed to have hepatitis.
The seminar was organised by the national office for the prevention of drug abuse, with the support of the European Commission's Technical Assistance and Information Exchange. It includes experts from Austria, Portugal, Great Britain, Italy and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.