Functions of the NFP

According to the Rules of Procedure of the National Center of Public Health and Analyses, published in the State Gazette, No. 82 of 18 October 2019, the National Focal Point on Drugs and Drug Addictions:

  • provides methodological guidance, management, control and coordination of the establishment and operation of a national public information system on drug-related problems;
  • performs the functions of a national unit for contact, coordination and cooperation with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and with the European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addiction (REITOX);
  • cooperates with foreign and international institutions in research practices and operation of national and international public information systems on drug-related problems;
  • initiates, organises, assigns, controls, supports and develops research in line with the current European practice, including theoretic and practical studies related to drug and psychoactive substances use in Bulgaria;
  • collects, classifies, processes, stores, analyses and disseminates information related to drugs and drug addictions;
  • drafts and submits for approval to the National Drugs Council a national report on drug-related problems in Bulgaria;
  • performs activities for application and design of key epidemiological indicators of the European information network – drug use among the population, problem drug use, drug-related infectious diseases, drug-related deaths and mortality, treatment demand related to drug use, and the early warning system of new psychoactive substances;
  • organises and controls periodic studies-evaluations of the number and structure of problem drug users in Bulgaria in accordance with the recent European practice;
  • organises and controls periodic specific studies on behavioural characteristics of problem drug users in Bulgaria in accordance with the recent European practice;
  • organises and controls the collection of current data about the number of drug-related deaths and the mortality rate among drug users in Bulgaria;
  • organises, controls and supports the operation of the information system concerning the profile and characteristics of drug users in treatment in relation to drug use in Bulgaria;
  • organises, coordinates and supports the operation of an early warning system of new psychoactive substances in Bulgaria.