Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Falk College, Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group Partner to Support Public Health-focused Drug Policies

Monday, July 9, 2018, By Michele Barrett
Share
facultyFalk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
two women sharing documents

A four-year collaborative partnership between the Falk College and the Council of Europe’s Cooperation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs will support rigorous curricular development and training for drug policy administrators. Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor of public health and coordinator of Falk College’s addiction studies programs, right, is Syracuse University’s partnership lead.

A four-year collaborative partnership between the Falk College and the Council of Europe’s Cooperation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group) will support rigorous curricular development and training for drug policy administrators. This collaboration is an outgrowth of Falk College’s on-going partnerships with the Pompidou Group and Syracuse University’s Study Abroad Strasbourg program.

Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor of public health and coordinator of Falk College’s addiction studies programs, is Syracuse University’s partnership lead. She has worked with the Pompidou Group since 2010 to support drug policy administrators in developing sustainable, effective drug policies focused on public health and safety. The trainings provide managers from government and non-government institutions with objective, data-driven approaches to developing, implementing and evaluating national drug policies that are evidence based, promote human rights and strengthen international cooperation. Using data as a foundation, this cooperation supports effective policies and academic research.  Faculty and select students with an interest in research in drug policy and drug use trends may contact Bergen-Cico (dkbergen@syr.edu) to learn more about opportunities for involvement in research and the biannual executive education trainings.

Results of these collaborations to date include published research in Substance Use and Misuse,  The Neuropathology of Drug Addictions and Substance Misuse, Journal of Drug Policy Analysis,  International Journal of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, and World Medical and Health Policy as well as international executive-level training and presentations.

Bergen-Cico’s research and scholarship span numerous emerging democracies focused on drug policies and emerging trends in drug use. In 2011, students and faculty from Falk College’s public health program attended the Pompidou Group—Syracuse University Trans-Atlantic Executive Training on Drug Policy:  Effective Governance of Coherent Drug Policies where Bergen-Cico presented on the then-emerging opioid crisis in the United States. In 2015, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to conduct research on substance use and drug policy in the country of Georgia and across Eurasia.

Last spring, Bergen-Cico presented training for the Council of Europe on new psychoactive substance use trends and demand reduction responses in the U.S. where she shared her groundbreaking research on new psychoactive substances Kratom and Siberian Ephedra. In September 2017, Thomas Kattau and Elena Hedoux from the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group visited Syracuse University to promote internship opportunities and study abroad programs. This visit included several presentations on the role of international cooperation in fighting drug use, the migration wave in Europe and resulting challenges for public health systems, and how new psychoactive substances are bringing new challenges to societies.

After learning about Bergen-Cico’s research on the efficacy of mindfulness-based programs for prevention and drug demand reduction in the U.S., Ricardo Sánchez Huesca, Mexico’s deputy general director of youth integration centers for Mexico, invited her to conduct training in Mexico.  In addition to a December 2017 seminar on  mindfulness for prevention of traumatic stress and addictive behaviors, Bergen-Cico gave the keynote presentation titled, “New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) Trends and in the United States” at the 19th International Congress on Addictions: Dual Disorders and Comorbidity Associated with Substance Use in Cancun, Mexico.

This spring, Bergen-Cico conducted the training, “Political or scientific evaluation? Examination of legalized cannabis policy outcomes in the U.S.” with 25 participants from 17 countries representing four different continents as part of the 2018 Pompidou Group’s executive training program in Venice, Italy. This program that examined evaluating the development, implementation and impact of drug policy will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, this fall where Bergen-Cico will participate.

  • Author

Michele Barrett

  • Recent
  • Most Read
  • Related
  • 2019-20 Winter Break/Orange Appreciation Days Operating Schedule
    Friday, December 13, 2019, By News Staff
  • It Girls Weekend Program Expanding to Two-Week Summer College Course Experience
    Friday, December 13, 2019, By Diane Stirling
  • Matt Shumer ’22 Selected to Showcase His Innovations in Several National Events
    Thursday, December 12, 2019, By Cristina Hatem
  • Associate Dean Gurdip Singh Named as a Division Director by the National Science Foundation
    Thursday, December 12, 2019, By Alex Dunbar
  • Applications for Spring 2020 Campus Business Plan Competitions Now Open
    Thursday, December 12, 2019, By Cristina Hatem
  • SU in the News: Tuesday, July 3
    Tuesday, July 3, 2012, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University Permanently Expels Theta Tau Chapter
    Saturday, April 21, 2018, By News Staff
  • Seven Syracuse Alumni Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Lists
    Thursday, January 5, 2017, By John Boccacino
  • Syracuse University Announces $118 Million Investment to Create a New Stadium Experience
    Monday, May 14, 2018, By News Staff
  • 100 Years after WWI: The Lasting Impacts of the Great War
    Monday, July 28, 2014, By Kathleen Haley
  • Africa Initiative Hosts Kwame Dixon Talk, Book Signing
    Tuesday, January 31, 2017, By Renée K. Gadoua
  • Physics Alumnus Wins Major Dissertation Award
    Wednesday, November 29, 2017, By Rob Enslin
  • Jennifer Wilkins Updates First U.S. Regional Food Guide
    Tuesday, November 4, 2014, By Michele Barrett
  • Haythornthwaite Named Director of Library Science Program
    Tuesday, December 6, 2016, By J.D. Ross
  • Three 2018 Senate Seats Targeted by Female Candidates
    Sunday, October 22, 2017, By Sawyer Kamman

More In Health & Society

Personalizing the Campus Pharmacy

An on-campus pharmacy has always been available to students, but over the summer it joined other health and wellness services within the newly constructed Barnes Center at The Arch. The new full-service pharmacy is now in an accessible and centralized…

ADA Live! Program Focuses on ‘Supported Decision-Making: From Justice for Jenny to Justice for All!’

“ADA Live!” is a free online program of the Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University. “ADA Live!” focuses on the rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). New episodes are…

Lender Center Names Inaugural Student Fellows

From growing up with social media to using it to uncover social justice trends, a select team of students will be taking part in a two-year collaborative research project as student fellows. The students have been named the first Lender…

Water Ambassador Henk Ovink to Present Lecture on Climate Action by Design

The School of Architecture will host Henk Ovink, the world’s only water ambassador, on Wednesday, November 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Fisher Center, for a lecture titled “Climate Action by Design.” A Netherlands native, Ovink has lived his life…

Joan Christy Lecture Series Presents Culinary Demonstration with the Iroquois White Corn Project

The Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and its Department of Nutrition and Food Studies will host the Iroquois White Corn Project for a culinary demonstration and tasting on Thursday, Nov. 14, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in 104…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2019 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.