The South Caucasus Anti-Drug (SCAD) Programme is the response of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union (EU) and national governments of the South Caucasus to reinforce drug control capacities in the region while simultaneously bolstering the capacity of national stakeholders to prevent drug abuse and provide continuum care to drug addicts.

The overall objective of the SCAD programme is the gradual adoption by beneficiary authorities of EU good practices on drugs policy. SCAD will cover both supply and demand reduction and will facilitate the implementation of the drug-related components of the action plans of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

To encourage the adoption of EU good practices, SCAD will work towards the following specific objectives:

1) Drug epidemiology/information: to establish a sustained capacity to analyse drug-related data based on European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) guidelines;

2) Legal assistance: to design national drug strategies and propose treatment/administrative sanction for drug users;

3) Prevention of drug use: to inform the general population of drug-related harm and support to the establishment of drug prevention programmes in schools;

4) Treatment for drug addicts: to offer treatment and rehabilitation services to the general population in free society and to inmates in prisons;

5) Regional law enforcement trainings: to reinforce operational co-operation among law enforcement authorities in the South Caucasus and with EU counterparts, to gradually harmonise practices, methods of intervention and analysis and to reinforce regional links among law enforcement staff.

As an outcome of these specific objectives, the programme envisages the following results:

• Drug control policies adopted and/or adjusted to promote policy harmonisation with EU good practices;
• Drug-related legislation harmonised at regional level;
• Drug-related recommendations of the ENP action plan partially implemented;
• Improved drug-related legislation, including the replacement of imprisonment sentencing with administrative sanctions;
• The phenomenon of drug abuse better understood and addressed;
• Drug epidemiological capacity reinforced;
• Drug prevention school curricula developed and school population more aware of risks of drugs;
• Awareness of general population raised on drug-related harms and risks;
• New treatment and rehabilitation services established and existing services strengthened;
• Staff of forensics laboratories trained and links established with EU counterparts;
• New methodologies for analyzing drugs and psychotropic substances adopted;
• Confidence built with between the EU and South Caucasus law enforcement authorities;
• Increased operational anti-drug co-operation;
• Confidence built between and within ministries, national institutions and government;
• Regional tensions reduced through technical co-operation.