Facing Drugs within the Roma Community: Gathering of Information for the development of indicators

1. Facing Drugs within the Roma Community: Gathering of Information for the development of indicators “The Sastipen Network Information System” (Extract from the final report 2001) The “Sastipen Network Information System”

2. Is there reliable data on the health status of the Roma population? No , the existing data is: piecemeal dispersed and difficult to find in no use in the implementation of interventions and the creation of policies and programs tailored to the different realities of the Roma communities

3. Thus, it is necessary to create an information system on the healthstatus of Roma: common to different countries applicable to the Roma Communities

4. The SASTIPEN Network “European Network for Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS Prevention in the Roma Community” is an informal network comprised of national organisations from different countries that do social intervention work with and have a deep understanding of the Gypsy peoples: Fundación Secretariado General Gitano – Spain Union Nationale des Institutions Sociales D’action pour les Tsiganes-Etudes Tsiganes - France Red Europea Antipobreza– Portugal and Coordinamiento Nazionale Communnità di Accoglienza – Italy Information and Support Center for Gypsies – Greece T3E Race Drug project – England

5. Long term objective: To obtain ongoing and updated information in order to have a tool capable of evaluating the impact of drug and health policies on the Roma communities Short term objectives: to be used for diagnostic purposes and design of interventions tailored to meet their health problems like drug dependencies.

6. Greatest difficulties collection of information No identification of Roma people with any of the health systems operating in Europe

7. Strategies to obtain the information and implement different sources of data collection: Search for already available statistical information Search for and use of secondary sources of data Implementation of a Delphi study with the collaboration of experts from each country to fill in information that is not directly available Ad hoc, studies to gather information

8. System’s development phases

9. Criteria to select the indicators: 1.- Importance and relevancy of the indicators for health issues within the Roma community 2.- The existence of the indicator in the non-Roma community 3.- The ability to gather the information needed for the development of the indicator by means of one of the methods proposed 4.- Balanced coverage of the marked areas for the establishment of a system of indicators

10. Indicators identified on drug dependencies Number and description of the people treated for drug dependency Source: Registration or case notification systems, Drug centres… Deaths by overdose Source: Police and penal and justice systems Arrests for trafficking and/or consumption Source: Police and penal and justice systems Consumption of drugs (legal and illegal)

11. According to these indicators, what is the situation in Spain and Portugal?

12. Number and characteristics of individuals receiving treatment for drug dependency Study carried out in the Coruña Drug Dependency Treatment Unit on Roma individuals on the period 1984-1995 Characteristics: 86.8% were men. The average age of the men was around 25,5 and 21.7 in the case of the women. Over 50% had been previously arrested. The principal addictive drug was heroine. 75% requested methadone treatment. Main conclusion: the demand was mostly for methadone treatment, the one less culturally influenced from among traditional treatments.

13. Deaths caused by overdose None ad-hoc studies or agreements with health authorities to collect this information on a regular basis in hospitals and forensic services Arrests for trafficking or consumption Most of the available data belongs to the prison population in Portugal and Spain

14. PORTUGAL In the Porto Penitentiary Centre (Custoias – Portugal): 75% of the arrests were related to drug trafficking: 70.7% for drug trafficking 4.9% for suspicion of trafficking 61% of the Roma inmates suffer drug dependency problems although only 7.5% have participated in the Support Program for Drug-dependent Inmates

15. Another study on incarcerated Roma throughout the whole of Portugal As an ethnic group the Roma account for 5.5% of the total inmate population The majority are repeat offenders and/or members of the same families. Of these, 79% are men and 21% women 40% of the male inmates were drug-dependent (close relationship between drug consumption and prison sentences) BUT this figure falls to 3.1% in the case of women The relationship with drug trafficking, however, is much stronger: 64% of the arrests are related to drug trafficking. 93.2% of the women inmates are serving sentences for drug trafficking. 13.2% of the total number of inmates serving sentences for drug trafficking are Roma.

16. SPAIN In Spanish prisons: 25% of the women inmates are Roma (while it is estimated that they account for 1,4% of the total Spanish population) 49% of the sample of 290 Roma women imprisoned in Spanish jails was or had been a consumer of illicit drugs (This percentage rose to between 60 and 65% in the case of those under 30 years of age)

17. Drug consumption (legal and illegal) MEN Alcohol 76.2% Tobacco 83.6% WOMEN no alcohol consumption was admitted and only two sites recognised a very limited number of cases of tobacco use.

18. High incidence of consumption in some family environments Data withdrawn from a study done in Santiago de Compostela on the incidence of drug-dependency problems within families (survey of 84 people): Spouse or partner 13.1% A sibling 36.9% A brother or sister-in-law 34.5% An aunt or uncle 41.2% A cousin 85.7%

19. CONCLUSIONS Scarce and no systematic data Sufficient number of indicators to reflect the situation of the Roma population and the future evaluation Need to carry out studies all over Europe Effective implementation of a system of indicators

20. For further information please visit: www.fsgg.org Or send and e-mail to sastipen@fsgg.org criteria@teleline.es