Delegates at the ‘International Conference on Alternative to Punishment and Drug Treatment in Prisons’, held in Tbilisi, 21-22 March 2017, called for developing comprehensive criminal justice responses to drug dependent people who are in trouble with the law. More than 70 high-level representatives from relevant Georgian ministries, international organisations, delegations from Armenia, Belarus, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, international experts as well as local civil society representatives participated at the conference.

They discussed drug treatment services in prisons and alternative sanctions for drug dependent persons in Georgia. Leading drug experts argued that prison sentences can be counterproductive in treating drug addiction and preventing drug users from reoffending after release. European good practice examples such as Therapeutic Communities (TCs), Opiate Agonist Treatment (OAT), Needle and Syringe Exchange Programmes (NSP) as well as alternatives to punishment for drug-related offences were presented and discussed. The participants agreed that the costs for society and health risks for drug using individuals can be reduced by effective drug treatment and harm reduction programmes in prisons and in the community.

The conference was prepared together with the Georgian Ministry of Justice in the framework of the Pompidou Group project on ‘Criminal Justice Responses to drug dependent prisoners’ of the joint EU-Council of Europe’s Programmatic Cooperation Framework (PCF) programme.