Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego

Regional Alcohol and Drug Program

The purpose of this Program, in operation since 1966, is to cooperate and exchange experience with specialists and organizations from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the field of fighting addictions. We provide a variety of forms of training specialists in the field of prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug addiction, as well as of educating families of the addicted.

A crucial field of regional cooperation involves the transfer of our experience gained in managing the Atlantis alcohol addicts' treatment program, which – thanks to our initiative and assistance – for the past 11 years has been run with great success in Polish prisons. Over the past years, we have also been sharing our experience in setting up therapy programs for perpetrators of crime of violence, both in and out of inmate communities.

In 2004, educational work forming part of the Program, involved 6 seminars and workshops for specialists in addiction therapy and prevention. Such seminars were held in Bulgaria, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. Two seminars were organised in Poland: for withdrawal treatment therapists and penitentiary institution employees (on the treatment of addicted inmates) from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine. 22 psychologists, therapists, and doctors from countries within the region attended internships at addiction treatment centres (i.e. MONAR, the Addiction Therapy Centre of the Psychiatric and Neurology Institute in Warsaw, the Psychiatric Hospital in Tworki and a number of prisons implementing Atlantis programs).

We also implemented a training project that aims to prepare staff of the prison dependency treatment centre using the Atlantis method, which will open in 2005 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The Polish specialist, Dariusz Skowroński, conducted the majority of trainings for the future staff of the Kyrgyz centre.

In August 2004, we hosted the 2nd International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction: New Challenges in the Changing World. The first conference of this cycle took place in 2002, in Recifa, Brazil, with the next one being planned for 2006 in Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa. These conferences, devoted to discussing methods and opportunities for reducing harm related to alcohol use and abuse, are organized upon the initiative and with the cooperation of the Dutch organization Quest for Quality, renowned for excellent achievements in decreasing harms related to drug use. Over 200 people from 36 countries of Europe, Asia and America took part in the Warsaw conference. Conference materials, including such issues as effective alcohol prevention among children and youth, social education regarding health harms arising from irresponsible use of alcohol, problems with drunk drivers, were published in two special editions of the ArkA magazine in Polish and Russian.

Program activities were funded from Open Society Institute grant in the amount of PLN 707 601,39. On top of that, our partners in Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine received funds from OSI in the total amount of USD 70 755 for travel costs of specialists coming to Poland for training and internships. Moreover The Amsterdam Group (TAG) and the International Center for Alcohol Policies contributed PLN 271 025,52 to the costs of the 2nd International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction.

Total costs of program: PLN 978 626,91