Michalis Katrinis is new head of Greek Organization Against Drugs

A cross-party parliamentary panel on Wednesday approved the appointment of Michalis Katrinis, a former PASOK MP and a member of the Council of Europe’s social, health and family affairs committee, as the new head of the state-run Organization Against Drugs (OKANA), which runs Greece’s biggest rehabilitation program for drug users.

Deputy Health Minister Zeta Makri had proposed Katrinis’s appointment following the resignation last December of OKANA’s former chief Meni Malliori after a probe into OKANA’s finances revealed an 8.4-million-euro shortfall.

Katrinis has proposed that the function of OKANA be extended to offer help those addicted to alcohol and gambling.