2023-07-31 17:19:02
Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) is slow to set up the drug incident network, CD&V MP Els Van Hoof said on Monday in reaction to the deaths at the Tomorrowland festival.
The bill providing for the establishment of a network of drug-related incidents was unanimously approved by the House in 2019. This network should make it possible to alert citizens and authorities more quickly to drugs dangerous in circulation.
New psychoactive substances, such as ketamine, GHB, 4-FA and 2-CB, are causing more and more deaths, including in Belgium. Designer drugs are variants of conventional drugs. They aim for the same effect, but are more dangerous because the dosage changes often.
Today, Belgium already has a Belgian drug early warning system, which collects all information about drugs and their use. The bill should transform this system into a network of drug-related incidents, the main novelty of which would be the establishment of monitoring stations in places where many drug-related incidents are detected, such as first aid at festivals. These stations should report on drug incidents, types of drugs and user reactions.
In addition, licensed transporters should be designated to transport seized drugs to research laboratories, where they could be analyzed and distributed immediately. Today, drugs often end up in the trash without a clear protocol.
However, according to Els Van Hoof, the implementation of this four-year-old law has been delayed.
“I can’t give an exact date,” Frank Vandenbroucke answered a parliamentary question on the subject earlier this month. “Given the complexity of setting up a real drug incident network, this concept will benefit from the establishment of a pilot phase. A concrete mission and the attribution of responsibility for the project must first be discussed and approved at the level of the general unit for the fight against drugs”.
“I question the minister on the implementation of the law that I initiated, since 2020,” Ms Van Hoof said on Monday. “He initially replied to me that Sciensano was exploring the possibilities of creating a network of drug-related incidents, but in 2021 it appeared that this process had stalled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. last February, this process had still not resumed”.
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