CIADO requests resignation of Anti-drug National Agency's leadership

CIADO (The International Anti-Drug and Human Rights Center) has requested the Government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on Friday, to sack the leadership of ANA (National Anti-Drug Agency) for "dire managerial deficits" and reorganize the institution, as well as adopt the 2017-2020 Action Plan through a Government Decision, allocating 5 percent from the vice tax for programs that concern the prevention of consuming drugs, alcohol and tobacco, including the rural area in the prevention programs.

"Under the conditions in which the Romanian Government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not understand the severity of consuming drugs and will not take any measures of reorganizing the National Anti-Drug Agency, will not consolidate the role of Anti-Drug NGOs, according to the international norms, we decided to organize in December ample protests in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara, Sibiu, Craiova, Ploiesti, Brasov, through which we will make a wake-up call about the increase in drug consumption in Romania and the indifference of the responsible authorities. The ministries responsible with the National Anti-Drug Strategy, the authorities of the central and local administration have not forecast up to 90 percent the financial resources in their own budgets, to carrying out the obligations stated in the Anti-Drug Strategy. Despite the calming messages from the National Anti-Drug Agency, things are not at all calm," the CIADO representatives said in an open letter to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Carmen Dan.

CIADO says that the last report published by ANA in 2017 shows a new increase of the number of drug users, namely 200,000 people in the last three years, a figure that adds to the other 600,000 existing users, "according to the statements of the head prosecutor of DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism) Daniel Horodniceanu."

According to CIADO, all these increases "were possible" because the National Anti-Drug Strategies 2005-2012, and 2013-2020, respectively "were considered by the responsible authorities as being obsolete", and the action plans are "virtually inexistent in practice, despite the fact that they were established through a Government Decision, with solid deadlines and actions.

"The reports presented by the ones responsible with applying the Strategy and Action Plan are simple papers, without any photographic or video evidence, or any real exculpatory documents, as it would have been normal. The 2017-2020 Anti-Drug Action Plan, although we are in September 2018, was not adopted by the Government, which makes it impossible to apply the National Anti-Drug Strategy," says CIADO.

The same source says that Romania has no unitary policies for prevention, evaluation, counseling, combating drug use, although it has a national coordinator in anti-drug policies.

"The reaction of the National Anti-Drug agency when a new drug pops up on the market is that of permanent denial," the document further says.AGERPRES(RO - author: Roberto Stan, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)
 

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