On February 17, 2025, a conference was held in the National Assembly building on the topic “Current state of national policy in the field of reducing use of narcotic and psychoactive substances in Bulgaria”. The event was under the patronage of the President of the National Assembly Nataliya Kiselova, and was attended by members of Parliament, representatives of national institutions and youth organisations, experts in the field of drugs and drug addiction, and students.
The conference was opened by Assoc. Prof. Kiselova, who presented information regarding the policy and spread of the problem of drugs and drug addiction in Bulgaria. Then, the Director of the National Center of Public Health and Analyses, Prof. Dr. Plamen Dimitrov, introduced the attendees and the media to current data on the use of narcotic and psychoactive substances in the country in connection with the national survey conducted under the methodological support of the National Focal Point on Drugs and Drug Addictions.
The second panel of the conference was dedicated to good practices and challenges facing drug policy in Bulgaria. Prof. Dr. Jasmine Vasileva (University of Virginia) presented global prevention practices aimed at drug use. Leading experts in the field of addiction shared their experience with regard to the main directions of drug demand reduction policy (treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation, harm reduction of drug use), revealed problems they face and gave recommendations for its development.
This was done by Yulia Georgieva (Center for Humane Policiy), Dr. Aleksandar Kanchelov (President of the Bulgarian Association for Methadone Treatment and Director of the Kanchelov Clinic), Dr. Vladimir Nikolov (Director of the State Psychiatric Hospital for the Treatment of Drug Addiction and Alcoholism), Volen Paskov (Center for Addiction Rehabilitation BILANI) and Dr. Georgi Vassilev (Director of the Bulgarian Institute of Addictions).
At the end of the conference, a discussion was held on contemporary challenges and opportunities for effective counteraction to the prevalence and use of narcotic and psychoactive substances.