Treatment responses to the drugs problem in Warsaw

Abstract

The aim of this article is to trace developments in treatment response to drug problem in the capital city of Poland–Warsaw which is its largest municipal city and which has been the starting point for new consumption patterns as well as for new treatment ideologies. Although the focus of this analysis is on the 1990s and the 2000s, to improve our understanding of current treatment responses, earlier decades will be briefly examined. Drug treatment and its expansion cannot only be considered in terms of a rational solution to epidemiological trends, but rather as a reflection of the changing public definition of the drug problem. Initial definition of drug abuse as resulting from inadequate social environment laid foundations for therapeutic communities located far away from ‘bad influence’ of family or peers, HIV panic paved a way to harm reduction, criminalization of drug possession associated with neo-conservative ideologies froze drug treatment structures for more than a decade, and eventually new system of funding health services encouraged the private sector to enter the field.

Notes

Notes

[1] Polish heroin or kompot is a domestic drug made of poppy straw in a fluid form. It can be injected.

[2] ‘Monar’ was established more than 25 years ago. A more detailed description is offered in one of the next sections of this article (see rehabilitation services).

[3] It is only recently in 2007 when two new methadone substitution programmes were opened within the private sector.

[4] The rehabilitation ward of the Nowowiejski hospital is located 30 kilometers outside Warsaw and admits patients from all over the country. On the other hand, all other rehabilitation centres also admit patients from Warsaw.