National anti-drug centre head: Czech anti-drug policy among most effective in EU

The Czech anti-drug policy is among the most effective in the EU in spite of a lower funding, the head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction Viktor Mravčík told journalists on Thursday in reaction to a report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

Mravčík said that despite relatively low funding in this area the Czech Republic is successful in preventing infections and has the lowest hepatitis C infection rate among addicts in Europe. This is due to the high availability of disposable needles.

However he said that the network of treatment facilities in the country is insufficient and help is not always available to those who want to overcome their addiction.