Addiction services in Georgian prisons David Otiashvili, M.D. Addiction Research Center Alternative Georgia MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION IN PRISONS Bucharest, 27 Feb 2013

Brief information on Georgia IndicatorInfo for 2011 Surface area sq km Population m GDP per capita in PPS euro Unemployment rate15.1% Prison Population Rate (per ) 524

Drug use General population No data Problem drug use 40,000 (95% CI: 39,000-41,000) prevalence 1,5% among years old Drugs injected shift from traditional opium, heroine and buprenorphine to home-made ATS (“vint”, “jef”) and opioids (desomorphine, “krokodile”)

New HIV cases,

Drug treatment

Drug legislation Drug use (trace of controlled substance in urine) is punishable under the Administrative Code Repeated drug use is punishable under the Criminal Code (up to 1 year imprisonment) Possession of ANY amount of drugs, regardless of purpose, is punishable under the Criminal Code Tables of quantities of drugs (any amount of amphetamine – 7 to 14 years) 6

Prison population

Drug related imprisonment December 2012 – more than 2,000 prisoners for drug related offences Majority release following the amnesty

Drug use in prisons No drug use (!?) Use of prescription psychotropic drugs common

Addiction services in prisons Short term methadone treatment (detox) in 2 prisons (Tbilisi and Kutaisi) VCT in all prisons Condom distribution Plans for the near future: Detox in women’s prison Treatment and rehabilitation in separate institution

Thank you