Action Plan 2018-2020 sees Spain reclassify gambling-harm as a drug addiction

Seeking to revamp Spain’s support structures for tackling addiction, Spain’s ‘Drug Support Council’ will introduce gambling harm to its upcoming ‘Action Plan on Addictions 2018-2020’ mandate.

The Action Plan incorporates the recommendations of a number of Spanish national health stakeholders, regulatory policy advisors and industry standards associations.

Amongst the stakeholders taking part in the development of the new plan, are Spain’s National Health Ministry, and gambling regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego  – DGOJ.

Last February, Spain’s Council of Ministers reclassified gambling-harm as a ‘drug addiction without substance’, following the recommendations of the American Psychiatric Association, a leading authority on the subject matter of addiction.

Supported by the Ministry of Health, the Council of Ministers has requested that the Drug Support Council rewrite Spain’s ‘national addiction strategy’ on combatting all forms of addiction, whilst improving treatment and victim support structures.

Taking over the initiative, The Drug Council has developed a new advisory board, which has moved to broaden the agenda and research context attached to treating addiction.

The publication of the ‘Action Plan on Addictions 2018-2020’, will form part of the ongoing revamp of Spain’s National Addiction Strategy, which will be in development until 2024, with a government having committed €1 billion, in funding of which 24% has been contributed through confiscated proceeds of Spanish narco-trafficking