The Greek Foreign Minister, George Papandreou will give the opening address at the two-day conference "Towards an effective policy on drugs: Scientific evidence, day-to-day practice and policy choices" at the Zappeion hall on Wednesday, 6 March 2003, 9:30 am.

The ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and welfare, Justice and Public Order in co-operation with the European Commission and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) organize from 6-8 of March 2003 a High Level Conference on Drugs, which will be held in the city of Athens.

The theme of the Conference is:

“Towards an Effective Policy on Drugs: Scientific evidence, day-to-day practice and policy choices.
Overcoming obstacles for the implementation of evidence-based drug policies and interventions”.

With this conference the Greek Presidency wants to create the opportunity for scientific researchers, workers at the day-to-day practice, policy makers, politicians and representatives from NGO’s to meet, exchange experiences and propose ways for a more effective EU policy on drugs. The three main items of the conference will be demand reduction: from prevention to rehabilitation; drugs and the criminal justice system; drugs, organised crime and law enforcement. Presentations and interventions will focus on concrete questions on the effectiveness of the current policies, its shortcomings and the possibilities of new forms of action.

The aim of the conference is:
- to make proposals for the improvement of the interaction between science, policy and practice;
- to contribute to the further implementation of the EU action plan 2000-2004, taking into account the results, conclusions and recommendations of the mid-term review and formulate guide lines for the new action plan at the end of 2004;
- to make suggestions for an EU-position at the 46th conference of the UN Committee on Narcotic Drugs (CND) which will be held in Vienna in April 2003;
- and to stimulate cooperation between regional and international organisations for the realisation of an effective drug policy.

Participants will be invited from the members states, the new accession countries, the European Commission, the Council secretariat, the EMCDDA, EUROPOL, the UN, members of the European Parliaments and of National Parliaments, representatives from NGO’s, and professionals from the field of science and the every day practice.

The conference will be hosted at the Zappeion Hall.  The languages of the conference will be Greek, English, French and (passive) Spanish. The participants are expected to arrive on Wednesday evening March 5th. Thursday and Friday are two full days for the conference. In the morning of Saturday March 8th there is an optional visit to a prison treatment facility for interested participants nearby the city of Thivae.

Those journalists who wish to observe the work of the conference need to obtain accreditation. For this purpose they could phone on 210-3683792, 210-3683520, or fax on: 210-3683870. Without accreditation entrance to the Zappeion hall will not be allowed. Journalists will sit in a nearby hall and watch the conference via video link. 

The ex-member of the Dutch parliament, Mr. Thanasis Apostolou will be the conference co-ordinator (Tel: 6934178468)

Conference programme (pdf file- starts at page 7)