During the 68th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which took place from March 10 to March 14, 2025, in Vienna, the Government of the Republic of Serbia’s Office for Combating Drugs organized a roundtable titled “Rethinking Recovery: Policy Frameworks for Systemic Transformation” on March 11, 2025.
The roundtable titled “Rethinking Recovery: Policy Frameworks for Systemic Transformation” was organized with the support of prominent experts from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Slovenia, as well as international organizations – the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union Drug Agency (EUDA), the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC), and with the support of the civil society organization “Celebrate Recovery” from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The roundtable was attended by H.E. Ambassador Carl Hallergard, Head of the Delegation to International Organizations in Vienna and Permanent Representative of the EU to the UN organizations in Vienna, IAEA, and CTBTO; senior officials from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), including Ms. Žana Glavendekić, Gorica Popović with colleagues; representatives from the Office for Combating Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, headed by the Assistant Director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Mr. Željko Petković; representatives of relevant international organizations and civil society organizations who supported the organization of the roundtable.
The event was officially opened by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Serbia to the OSCE and other international organizations in Vienna, Prof. Dr. Ambassador Žarko Obradović, who stated that the global nature of drug-related problems requires a regional, bilateral, and multilateral response based on the principles of decentralization and a multidisciplinary approach. Although substance abuse primarily causes harmful consequences to an individual’s health and emotional development, as well as the preservation of healthy family relationships, it is an important social issue that affects broader societal well-being and community security. The continuous work of relevant state authorities in the Republic of Serbia in the field of drug policy is based on respect for the rule of law and social justice, safeguarding human and minority rights and freedoms, and applying a multidisciplinary, science-based, effective approach in the treatment of addiction as a disease, as emphasized by Prof. Dr. Ambassador Žarko Obradović.
The representative of the Office for Combating Drugs of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Branislava Cincarević, briefly informed the attendees about the work of the Office and the activities the Office will undertake in the upcoming period, both at the national and international levels. Following the completion of the evaluation process for the 2014-2021 Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy, the most significant public policy document in the fight against drugs, a working group was formed in Serbia to create a new public policy document. As a member of the working group for the development of the new strategic document, the Office for Combating Drugs has been one of the leading proponents for the adoption of a new Drug Policy Strategy, which would be based on the principles of the European Union’s Drug Strategy for the period 2021-2025. One of the innovations in the development of the new strategic document proposed by the Office was the introduction of the concept of recovery as a personalized process for building an individual’s strengths and creating opportunities for building their own recovery capital from addiction. This significant change, which will contribute to the implementation of a new approach in the fight against addiction, is the result of the systematic work of the Office for Combating Drugs of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, which would be implemented together with partners from the Operational Plan. Although the Operational Plan has not yet been adopted in the Republic of Serbia, the Office for Combating Drugs, within its competencies, continuously supports civil society organizations that undertake activities in the field of rehabilitation and reintegration of people with addiction-related problems. Furthermore, upon the adoption of the Operational Plan for Drug Abuse Prevention, local action plans for the fight against drugs will be developed with the professional assistance and support of relevant international experts, stated the Office representative, Ms. Cincarević.
The speakers also included Mr. Alexis Guzdel, Executive Director of the European Union Drug Agency (EUDA), Ms. Sanita Suhartono, representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ms. Francisca Oblitas Valdes, Head of the Program Department of the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (SENDA), Mr. Jože Hren, Head of the Department for Health Promotion and Prevention of Addiction Diseases at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Edward Day, Clinical Lecturer in Addiction Psychiatry, Birmingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Mr. Matej Košir, Chairman of the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC