Interview Nuria Calzada - ExpoGrow Irún 2016

Transcript of the interview with Núria Calzada:

Energy Control is a harm reduction project at the national level started by the NGO ABD (Association of Welfare and Development). Núria Calzada is psychologist and member of Energy Control since 2000, and is now the state coordinator of the project

Hello Núria, How are you?

Hello everybody, how are you doing?

Fine! Yesterday we were at the forum conference about UNGASS-2016, which you attended at the UN office in New York I think... After UNGASS...are you deceived? Hopeful? What is your opinion?

Well, it was one of the subjects of the debate...was it meritorious? Deceiving? The truth is that we all went with very high expectations, and the final draft was a disappointment, however there are other interpretations of what happened and what UNGASS-2016 meant... Although the final draft was agreed by all states, what came out was a very fine line, that could break at any moment.

Today, very diverse policies are being applied from countries with death penalty for possession or traffic, to others regulating cannabis like Uruguay... Thus, reaching consensus with such diverse policies is really meritorious, although I believe that what we did is laying the foundations for future tensions and imbalances...

Which were these foundations? Which were the main pillars of UNGASS?

Well, the document basically reaffirms the need of controlling the supply, the restrictive policies... it does move a step forward since it lends force to the implementation of health policies, and it also calls for human rights and another important and outstanding fact is that while the previous slogan was “A drug-free world”, in this past UNGASS edition we saw greater flexibility with “A society free of drug abuse”.

That is, if they recognize that there is abuse it means that there is use, which can be legitimate, and if that part is recognized...then they're not looking for a world free of drugs, but for eradicating and minimizing drug abuse, but not drug use.

Well...step by step, right?

It's an important step...

Right. I'd like you to tell us something about Energy Control, the project that you're coordinating, can you tell us a bit about what is Energy Control, how does it work? For example...what is or what are the main tasks of Energy Control?

The main task, well, there are several ways to describe Energy Control... one way on the record, as I said during the debate, and another one off the record. We could say Energy Control is like a patch for prohibitionist policies since it offers non-moralist, objective information and usage guidelines for consumers, and that's precisely where it is pointed...since drugs are bad and taboo subject, there is no information about them. They simply say “do not use them because they're bad and that's all”. But the user doesn't know how to use them, there's no information, so we're like a patch for these policies.

First for the information issue, and second for analyzing the composition of the substances that we're taking, which is also another consequence of prohibition...since they're illegal substances they mainly come from the black market, so compositions vary and we find frauds, adulterations, some of them important and with serious repercussions on health...

That's one of your tasks, right? To analyze what users take with small samples or...people come to you and ask: “what is this? can I take it?”

It's one of our tasks. The main goal is to reduce harm derived from drug use, either cannabis or any other substance, respecting the decision of the user, in that sense we carry out different tasks like alcohol testing or drug analysis, which is what normally has more impact on media, and so it's the most known task, but not the most important one.

For us it's as important as keep on fighting... as what we say at leisure areas, clubs, festivals, raves, both analysis and other tasks with teenagers at High Schools, as educating professionals like doctors, nurses, professors, educators.

For us, every current line of action is important, even those less known.

And what type of resources do you have? How is your funding? Who helps you? How does it work?

Well, Energy Control was born in 1997 with the help of the National Plan on Drugs, which is currently maintained at state level, and Energy Control is now present in Catalonia, Madrid, Andalucía and Baleares. We also receive aid from some of these regions, not all, and also other variables.

Traditionally, Catalonia and Andalucía have been the regions from which we've received more aid. Also in Madrid and Mallorca, for it seems like we're starting to get some support from these regions to carry out tasks there too...

You said before that you visit High Schools and party areas...how does youth receive you?

Very nicely, we've always had a warm welcome, of course, the first reaction is surprise, because they understand "prevention" as "do not use drugs"
but when you offer something more, beyond recrimination, they realize that you're not judging their behavior it is a very respectful task, and people love it, they're surprised and grateful.

Sure, they must be really surprised...do you think that using drugs is something inherent to the human being? Is it an inner need to alter our state of consciousness? A more philosophical question...

I believe it is. Furthermore, humans are not the only living being, the only animal taking drugs, I mean, we have several examples in Nature
of animals taking plants, fungi, with no other aim than to get high, to alter their consciousness.

So it's not only inherent to the behavior of human beings, but also to other animals, so it must fulfil its function in human beings and evolution, I believe that.

I can imagine your answer, but let me ask you...Would users be safer if drugs were legalized?

Definitely yes. It's obvious. They'd be much safer especially with regard to product composition.

Many problems come from here, right? From not knowing what we take, or from thinking that we are taking certain substance when it's actually another one, and so...dosages are the difference between medicines and poisons.

If we don't know what substance we are taking, or the dosage...it's normal to have accidents... accidents associated to occasional consumption. Not to speak about mid and long term use effects, but about side and adverse effects at the moment of taking some drug.

And most of them come from ignorance, from misinformation, from not knowing how to manage it, and ignoring which substance is being used...

Well, it's clear that we can control the substance if we know the composition and dosage.

Núria, thank you very much for your words and good luck with your project.

Thanks, it was a pleasure.