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Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe Form City Partnerships for Drug Demand Reduction

As a result of the collaboration between the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU), mayors and delegates from 27 cities in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean met in Coimbra, Portugal, to ratify the Declaration of Lugo for Drug Demand Reduction. They also signed into being the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean (EU-LAC) City Partnerships for Drug Demand Reduction.

Both achievements are a consequence of the joint OAS-EU project, titled, “EU-LAC City Partnerships in Drug Demand Reduction,” begun in 2007, and in which more than 40 cities on both sides of the Atlantic participated.

Furthermore, the ratification and signing are framed in the context of the approval in May of the new Hemispheric Drug Strategy from the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) at the OAS. Find Press Release here

It was decided during the Coimbra Forum that the Peruvian region of Lambayeque, with the support of DEVIDA Peru, will assume the first chairmanship of this new Alliance in 2011, in the company of the recently created Executive Committee Alliance of the cities of Gothenburg (Sweden), Coimbra (Portugal), Lugo (Spain), San Miguel de Tucuman (Argentina) and Paramaribo (Suriname).

“We far exceeded the objectives set at the start of this project three years ago,” the Executive Secretary of CICAD, James Mack, said, referring to the cycle that is ending and that opens the gateway for the new alliance signed in Coimbra. “The signing of this partnership marks an ending that we hope will lead to a new beginning in the close relationship developed in this field between the European Commission and the OAS, which was made possible thanks to the leadership of the participating cities.”

During the Coimbra Forum a publication was presented, titled, “Status of Drug Treatment at the Local Level (cities): Information from 19 Cities of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.” Find Complete Report here

The forum of “Municipal Drug Policies,” from September 22 to 24, was organized by the city of Coimbra (Municipal Chamber of Coimbra) and CICAD of the OAS Secretariat for Multidimensional Security (SMS), in collaboration with the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction (IDT, IP) of Portugal.

The ratification and closing ceremony was attended by Portugal’s Assistant Secretary of State for Health Affairs of Portugal, Manuel Pizarro; the president of the Municipal Chamber of Coimbra, Carlos Encarnação; the president of IDT, I.P., João Goulão; and the Executive Secretary of CICAD, James Mack.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-347/10