Being first is not always good. It is something that in our country we have come to understand, having often “climbed” the wrong peaks. The most recent such peak pertains to a very sensitive social issue: drug-related deaths.
On the occasion of World Drug Day, a study by the University of Athens was presented, according to which, in a three-year period (2018-2021), 213 deaths were recorded out of a total of 2,406 users who were under observation. These mortality rates correspond to percentages that give Greece the first place in all of Western and Central Europe, in North America and Australia according to a total of 84 studies!
These shocking data were announced by Professors Angelos Hatzakis and Vana Sypsa in a press conference, organized by the Network of Peer Users of Psychoactive Substances, the Hellenic Liver Patient Association “Prometheus” and the Greek Association of HIV, “Positive Voice” in collaboration with the Harm Reduction Platform Organizations (PRAKSIS, Steps and Doctors of the World) and the Municipality of Athens.
As the president of “Prometheus”, Mr. George Kalamitsis, pointed out, “The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that in managing public health problems, we must prioritize the most vulnerable. Unfortunately, anachronistic obsessive ideologies have resulted in our country for decades ignoring this basic principle of public health. We responded to the drug problem with defective prevention measures and inadequate health services for psychoactive substance users”.
Obsessive Ideology is not easy to defeat. If there is one way it is through “education” and valid information. Perception team is involved in this effort, by undertaking the communication and promotion of the Press Conference and the dissemination of its message. If nothing else, the change of mentality is also a matter of perception.
