Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Prevention measures most efficient against drug, alcohol abuse

Belgrade, 18 April 2006

Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic announced today that a study on drug abuse and prevention of addictive diseases in Serbia, the first of its kind to be composed in Serbia last October, will be now conducted every year in line with the methodology that has been applied in 35 countries.

Tomica Milosavljevic

Author: Beta

At a conference themed "Drug Abuse in Serbia", held to mark the completion of the project "Assessment of Drug Abuse in Serbia", Milosavljevic said that Serbia is to become a part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD).

Speaking about the results of the survey involving over 3,000 high-school students from Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis, the Minister said it is indeed worrying that in relation to entire Europe, Serbia has the largest percent of boys who take up alcohol.

He also warned that tranquilisers issued without prescription are widely used among students in Serbia even more than in neighbouring countries, and by 50% more than the ESPAD average.

The project was financed and carried out by the European Agency for Reconstruction. One of the project's leaders, Jean-Michel Manzoni, said that the use of psychoactive substances is inappropriately registered in Serbia, adding that the available data indicate a growing tendency.

According to Manzoni, the situation in Serbia is not tragic and this issue should not be overstated. However, he named the lack of a permanent national office for overall control of drug and alcohol abuse as the greatest weakness

Vice-President of the National Drug and Alcohol Committee Nikola Vuckovic said that according to estimates, there are between 30,000 and 100,000 drug addicts in Serbia, 80% of which are heroin addicts.

According to Vuckovic, Belgrade has 10,000 to 15,000 heroin addicts and Novi Sad between 3,000 and 5,000.

He said that all countries are expected to deal with addiction diseases at state level and announced that by year's end Serbia will get a strategy for the prevention of abuse of psychoactive substances.

He added that there are two modes for fighting addiction diseases. The statistics in various countries show that repressive measures, such as stricter legislation and increased activities of police and customs officers, account for a mere 15% reduction, whereas prevention has proved incomparably more efficient in this matter, he concluded.