DEMOCRACY, CITIES AND DRUGS II Project French National Platform

Toolkit of pilot cities that aims at promoting a public policy relative to addiction issues in the framework of Local Safety and Crime Prevention Councils

Project’s frame : Democracy, cities and drugs II Project’s partners : French cities

Experts’ Commitee Docteur William Lowenstein, Hélène Martineau, OFDT – French Observatory for Drugs and Addictions

Project’s objectives Mobilise the French pilot cities to organise, draft and implement policies against addictive behaviours within their local safety and prevention devices ; Encourage, favour and support French local elected officials to hold a key role in coordinating and federating local stakeholders ; Encourage the drafting of a local policy based on four pillars: prevention, treatment, harm reduction and repression.

Any policy regarding drug use and other addictions is based on four indissociable pillars : Prevention Care Harm reduction Repression

Definitions Prevention : a range of strategies aiming at preventing the development of behaviours considered as risky and especially the ones of abusive drug consumption ; Care : concernes the access to care and treatment ; Harm reduction : policy that privileges first of all the strategies of treatment and prevention that aim at minimizing sanitary and social risks ; Repression : enforces social interdictions with the help of faster and more credible sanctions, fight against drug trafficking.

Functional objectives Encourage the drafting and development of a local policy ; Create a common framework and discourse ; Organise the coordination of actions ; Create a network of local professionals ; Promote a local technical unit for addiction issues.

Framework Local Safety and Crime Prevention Councils

Target groups Local elected officials and technical staff in charge of prevention and safety issues

Methodology Establish a group of ‘pilot cities’ ; Take into account the European working groups of DCDII so as to organise an exchange of practices and knowledge ; Organise an audit in pilot cities.

Methodology Creation of a common language about addiction issues; Focus on community’s needs: training, partners network, inhabitants’ associations Focus on the local technical unit and its methodological tools Development of a network of communities concerned about the subject.

Requirements for participating in the project Free participation of the cities thanks to the DCDII European programme, cofunded by the European Commission ; Pilot cities should sign a commitment letter towards the FFUS that guarantees the participation of a city representative to each of the actions until the final seminar on May 2011.

Timetable  May 2009 : Kick-off meeting ;  July 2009 : Planning Meeting ;  November 18 and 19, 2009 : Training session ;  April 2010 : Study visit ;  From August 2010 until September 2011 : Validation of the French Platform works ;  January 2011 : Validation meeting ;  May 2011 : Final seminar.