Drugs – Policies and practices
Issue Topic – Why is education important?
C O N T E N T
Non-formal Education –Instigator of Social Changes
The expertise results from the information, knowledge and skills professionals acquire through formal and non-formal education as well as through the personal and professional experience. Non-formal education is particularly significant because we are all aware that formal education fails to completely satisfy the need for personal and professional development of the youth, while non-formal education contributes in the process of livelong learning and development of the human capital. Author: Anica Dimovska
Towards education based on facts rather than stereotypes
In September 2015, the Coalition “Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities” published the analysis “Drug Use and Living with HIV in Education.” The analysis covered 22 textbooks and teaching materials for secondary and higher education in Macedonia in respect to contents related to drug use and HIV/AIDS. On this occasion we talked with the editor, Dragana Drndarevska. According to Drndarevska, the general findings reveal that textbooks and teaching materials abound with stigmatization and discrimination against drug users and people living with HIV. The aim was a call for urgent changes of the textbooks and learning materials and the improper and incorrect contents from different aspects that contribute towards stigmatization and social exclusion of drug users and people living with HIV. Interviewer: Irena Cvetkovic
Education a Prerequisite for Promotion of the Rights of People Who Use Drugs
The terms “junkie,” “narcomania,” and “narco addict,” are contained in all textbooks, contrary to the human rights protection standards, thus violating the dignity of people who use drugs. Apart from the use of these derogatory terms, the authors frequently place them in a negative context to identify PUD as criminals and perpetrators of criminal acts. Furthermore, some of the textbooks contain incorrect information regarding drug use regulation, classification of drugs, and the effects and consequences of drug use. Author: Natasa Boskova
Back to the drawing board: Excerpts and impressions from the Summer School on Addiction
This summer, the Belvedere Hotel in Ohrid was the venue for the Summer School on Addiction, organized for the fourth time by HOPS – Healthy Options Project Skopje. There were twenty participants from different profiles – psychologists, social workers, legal advisors, doctors and students from the Faculty of Security Studies. The intensive program lasted for 8 days, including several interactive daily block lectures, as well as a visit to two harm reduction centres in Ohrid. For me as a young person and professionally still not developed psychologist, gathering experience by working in any field where my profession is of benefit is absolutely indispensable. Considering that drug addiction, a subject lurking over the mental health of the individual and the community, is lacking in the curriculum of our faculties I decided to apply for the Summer School on Addiction from one simple reason: to acquire the basic information on this issue, which then I can upgrade depending on future opportunities. I can sincerely say that the participation in the School helped me surpass my humble expectations – instead of confirming the well established stereotypes, I discovered many new questions, part of which I will try to share in the following text. Author: Marija Grubor
Lectures on Tuberculosis and HIV Co-infection
Before the lectures, people who use drugs in Kumanovo did not know what tuberculosis was or about HIV/AIDS co-infection. They believed it is a fatal disease without cure. This was the knowledge available to them. The lectures increased their interest. Author: Robert Jovanovski – Kotorac
A lot of key individuals in philosophy and the contemporary thought have discussed drugs. One of them was the famous French philosopher Michel Foucault who spoke about drugs without hesitation in several interviews.