Transcript After the RPAR 4-5 - Temple University

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:
1. 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.
2. 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
o NGOs
o Social workers and probation
officers
o 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
o Network members showed the prosecutor the law allowing treatment instead of jail,
and the prosecutor was willing to suspend prosecution
o These provisions had not been used before in the region
For RPAR Tools and Reports, visit www.rpar.org
Initiatives in the Rural Areas
As part of a project funded
by the Local Democracy
Development Foundation
and the National Office for
Counteracting Drug
Addiction, RPAR
researchers helped train
stakeholders in 30
municipalities on the how
to set up a municipal drug
treatment program.
RPAR researchers and CAB members are working with rural towns to:
1. 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.)
2. 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.
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