Drug control department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania was established on the 21st August 2003.
Regulations of the Department were approved on 27 November 2003 by the decision No. 1478 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
CORE TASKS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT
Tasks. The most important tasks of the Drug Control Department are as follows:
- to implement drug prevention and drug control policy after an identification of the principal directions of the implementation of the said policy;
- to organize an implementation of the measures of drug prevention and drug control, to coordinate other activities of state and municipal institutions and organizations in the sphere of drug prevention and drug control.
Functions. On an implementation of its tasks, the Drug Control Department shall perform the following functions:
- settle the problems related to an implementation of the drug prevention and drug control policy, provide proposals on the trends of priority of the activities in drug prevention and drug control and an improvement of such activities to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as state and municipal institutions and organizations;
- within its competence, develop conceptions, strategies, programmes and projects of other legal deeds, provide proposals on an improvement of the relevant legal deeds;
- analyze and assess reports of state and municipal institutions and organizations on an implementation of the measures of drug prevention and drug control;
- coordinate exchange of information on an implementation of the measures of drug prevention and drug control among interested state and municipal institutions and organizations;
- within its competence, liaise with the relevant institutions of the European Union and foreign states;
- organize monitoring of consumption of narcotic and psychotropic substances, collect and analyze information on an implementation of the measures of drug prevention and drug control, its trends in the country and abroad, the consequences of consumption of narcotic and psychotropic substances and provide it to interested institutions, develop methodical recommendations;
- Co-operation with European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA):
The EMCDDA’s mission statement sets out the agency’s four main tasks:
- collecting and analysing existing data;
- improving data-comparison methods;
- disseminating data and information; and
- cooperating with EU institutions, international partners and with non-EU countries.
At the heart of the EMCDDA’s information system are five key harmonised epidemiological indicators: standard tools for collecting and reporting comparable drug data. These cover:
1. prevalence and patterns of drug use among the general population;
2. prevalence and patterns of problem drug use;
3. drug-related infectious diseases;
4. drug-related deaths and mortality of drug users; and
5. demand for drug treatment.
