The OSCE Mission to Montenegro in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Montenegro and General Police Directorate of Montenegro organized on 26-27 November 2019 in Podgorica a regional meeting on new psychotropic substances. 

Representatives of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of the Interior of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Serbia discussed challenges and threats due to occurrence of new psychotropic substances. The meeting was contributed by the representatives of the Strategic Police Matters Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), who pointed to potential solutions and good practices at global level. 

John Cirrigan, Manager of the Program for security cooperation and management at the Mission, expressed concern due to significant increase of synthetic drugs and altered ways of drug trafficking, not only nationally and regionally, but also globally. 

“Reports on increased availability and trafficking of new psychotropic substances switched on the alarm within the international community, particularly speaking about organized criminal groups who make profit and use regional market”, Corrigan emphasized. 

Head if the Drug Policy Department at the Ministry of Health of Montenegro, Jasna Sekulić presented the Early Warning System for New Psychotropic Substances and a method of its operation. Additionally, she underlined the importance of multisector, but also regional cooperation in this area, and the successful example of it are meetings such as this one.