Rafaela Rigoni

This report presents an overview on harm reduction interventions for problematic stimulant use. In it, we focus predominantly on interventions for people who smoke methamphetamine and freebase cocaine. While we initially aimed at addressing other amphetamine-type substances (ATS), cathinones and cocaine hydrochloride, as well as other non-injectio...

The Dutch approach toward the consumption and trade of drugs has yielded the country a stereotypical image of a too liberal nation. But how did this image develop and to what extent has it influenced Dutch on drug policies? This article goes back to the 1970s to analyze these questions in the context of the first European collaboration around drug...

Background: Despite the rise of stimulant use, most harm reduction programs still focus on people who inject opioids, leaving many people who use methamphetamine (PWUM) underserviced. In Asia, especially, where methamphetamine prevalence has overtaken opioids prevalence, harm reduction programs assisting PWUM are rare. The few existing innovative...

The importance of involving people with lived experience of drug use in harm reduction programs and drug policies in widely recognised. Yet, in the ground, many harm reduction programs face challenges to apply those principles in practice. This research-based guide provides very practical advice on how to better involve, manage and employ people wh...

Background Civil society organisations (CSOs) play a vital role in developing and implementing effective measures to reduce the harms of drug use. They are also fundamental actors to monitor and evaluate programmes and policies for improvement. While harm reduction services are subject to monitoring, and international and European indicators exist,...

Background With the advent of direct acting antivirals (DAAs) the World Health Organisation (WHO) adopted global strategy to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by 2030. In Europe, people who inject drugs (PWID) account for the majority of new cases, however testing and treatment remain suboptimal. The aim was to monitor progress in HCV pol...

Background Across Europe, harm reduction services experienced significant disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses the experiences of harm reduction service providers during the pandemic in 34 European cities, focusing on their main challenges, adaptations, and opportunities for change. A closer examination of Athens and Dublin...

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO)[1] have recently released guidelines on mental health at work, and similar European Union (EU) initiatives[2] have pushed for specific policy and strategic guidelines for improving mental health in work settings. This demonstrates the growing recognition for specifi...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000841.].

2022 was one of the most consequential in recent European history, witness to a series of overlapping crises: the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fast-growing population displacements, the MPOX outbreak, shrinking civil society spaces and the deepening of socioeconomic inequalities, among others. Within this contex...

Background Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are globally widely used. Scientific literature generally defines four phases of substance use (initiation, continuation, increase and decrease); however, there is limited understanding of what influences these different phases of ATS use. The ATTUNE study investigated which factors shape individual phas...

This report describes the situation in five European countries regarding the use of SO and the available preparedness methods for dealing with potential increases in SO use and incidents. The purpose of the report is to identify good practices as well as gaps in national and local synthetic-opioid preparedness strategies. The added value of conduct...

This paper presents data on selected indicators to show progress towards elimination goals and targets for hepatitis B and hepatitis C in the 31 countries of the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). A monitoring system was developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which combined newly collected data from...

There has been a drastic increase in the use and associated harms of synthetic opioids (SOs) in the past two decades worldwide. This issue highlights the importance in paying attention to different interventions to mitigate the burden of SO use. The European research project, ’Strengthening Synthetic Opioids health systems’ preparedness to respond...

The main aim and purpose of C-EHRN monitoring activities is to improve knowledge and information and complement existing data and monitoring efforts in Europe in specific areas of harm reduction based on the perspective of civil society organisations (CSOs). The data collected helps us to assess the implementation of certain drug and health policie...

Background: Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) are globally widely used. However, there is limited understanding of what influences different phases of ATS use, as well as whether this varies by type of ATS user (groups). The ATTUNE study investigated which factors shape individual ATS use patterns. In this article, we report on these phases into an...

This report aims to enrich the information and knowledge base of harm reduction interventions in Europe from the viewpoint of civil society organisations, working directly for, and with, people who use drugs. We believe that this necessary and useful approach will contribute to the development of drug policy at regional and national levels.

This paper analyses law enforcement workers’ experiences when transforming policies for crack cocaine and heroin into practice. It focuses on dilemmas workers have and choices they make when approaching drug users. Grounded theory principles and ethnographic techniques were used to gather and analyse in depth interviews and extensive participant ob...

Qualitative research has been considered increasingly valuable for cross-cultural psychology studies, but its contributions and challenges to the field remain under discussed. This chapter does that by analysing a qualitative study which compares interpretive beliefs and behaviour of street-level workers from health, social, and law enforcement sec...

Qualitative research has been considered increasingly valuable for cross-cultural psychology studies, but its contributions and challenges to the field remain under discussed. This chapter does that by analysing a qualitative study which compares interpretive beliefs and behaviour of street-level workers from health, social, and law enforcement sec...

If surveillance is understood as a complex multi-dimensional process, then collaboration between health, social and law enforcement sectors can be viewed as a part of the surveillance culture of particular societies and urban settings. Policies towards illicit drugs usually build on a two-track approach—public health and public order—with different...

This comparative study analyses the implementation of policies on so-called ‘problem drugs’ (crack cocaine and heroin) for the cities of Amsterdam (in the Netherlands) and Porto Alegre (in Brazil). Using a variant on the street level bureaucracy approach, the study assumes that workers’ discretion has a central role in understanding the processes t...

Este artigo busca discutir a avaliação de um projeto de capacitação de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (ACS) para ações em redução de danos (RD) em sete municípios do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram entrevistados 61 ACS em 10 Unidades de Saúde (US). Questionários dirigidos foram aplicados individualmente, seguidos de grupos focais. Constatou-se sensibilizaç...

Bruna Thaíse 1 2

This study mapped and described 11 harm reduction interventions/programs in Greater Metropolitan Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, in 2004-2006. Mapping was based on interviews and analysis of available documents and comparison with a previous study with data from 2003. We aimed to discuss the programs' sustainability (political, finan...

Neste estudo mapeamos e descrevemos 11 programas/ações em redução de danos vigentes nos anos de 2004 a 2006, na Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. A descrição e análise se construíram por meio de entrevistas com as coordenações dos programas, de análise documental e da comparação com um mapeamento realizado em 2003. Bu...

RESUMO: Pensar o grupo como um dispositivo de transformação nas relações dos sujeitos parece uma tarefa intensa; neste trabalho nos propomos a pensar questões grupais e as transformações subjetivas que ocorreram no desenrolar desse território que foi criado, dando ênfase ao processo de clínica ampliada com o objetivo de produzir saúde e aumentar a...

Scientific literature review shows that Harm Reduction (HR) articles focus mainly the discussion about the implications of different drug users treatment models and the efficiency of HR with injection drug users. However, there are few studies about HR workers. In this context, the present article aims to discuss the work of outreachworkers, propos...

Scientific literature review shows that Harm Reduction (HR) articles focus mainly the discussion about the implications of different drug users treatment models and the efficiency of HR with injection drug users. However, there are few studies about HR workers. In this context, the present article aims to discuss the work of outreachworkers, propos...

This study mapped and described 11 harm reduction interventions/programs in Greater Metropolitan Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, in 2004-2006. Mapping was based on interviews and analysis of available documents and comparison with a previous study with data from 2003. We aimed to discuss the programs’ sustainability (political, fina...