Report on the Drug Situation 2010 - Bundesministerium für ...

hardly known. This makes it impossible to assess the risks of use of research
chemicals. Another problem is that they are easily available through the Internet, which
makes it difficult to restrict the supply. The purity of ecstasy has declined massively,
and the drug-testing service ChEck IT! had to warn many users that the drugs they had
bought contained dangerous ingredients.
Selected Issue: History, Methods and Implementation of
National Treatment Guidelines
As a consequence of the federal structure of Austria’s administration, many public
health tasks and competences are provincial matters, thus no national guidelines for
addiction treatment exist. Another reason is that in Austria, the discussion of the
theme of national quality standards for medical treatment has started later than in
other countries. Since 2005, the Act on the Quality of Health-care Services provides
the legal basis for guideline production. Meanwhile, a metaguideline has been
prepared (GÖG under preparation) which defines the process of drawing up guidelines.
Apart from this process, which is still in its early stage, several guidelines and
standards exist that are relevant for the implementation of addiction treatment in
Austria. Many of them focus on substitution treatment, and some on specific themes
and settings, as well as organisational aspects (guidelines for the announcement and
funding of treatment centres). Research evidence is taken into account indirectly rather
than systematically, while practical experience plays a predominant role.
Selected Issue: Costs of Drug-related Treatment
No recent cost studies or economic analyses of drug-related treatment are available
for Austria. It is a fact, however, that the majority of funds for drug treatment and
support services comes from public sources, with the largest part provided by the
provinces. Apart from the federal and provincial governments, also local governments
and the social security institutions provide funding for addiction treatment. It is not
possible to give detailed estimates on expenditure as the budgets do not have specific
drug-related items, and because of the complex financing mechanisms, only data on
certain subareas are available.
VI © GÖG/ÖBIG, <strong>Report</strong> on the Drug Situation 2010