Tonny is a very experienced activist of many years and although he is actually Dutch, he has been living and working in Belgium for decades. Tonny has been an important part of drug user organising across the country and is well known on the European scene. He has headed up many of the more important user initiatives to have taken place in Belgium and he has also played a central role in EuroNPUD's development.

You can contact Tonny at: Tonny.Vanmontfoort@free-clinic.be 

He has an 'alternate' also representing Belguim, Stefan.

Jørgen Kjær is the long time president of the Danish Drug users union Brugerforeningen. A well known activist in Denmark and Europe, Jørgen has played an important role in the development of Northern European groups. 

Jørgen has hosted at many important drug user events over the years, particularly INPUD's first global meeting. He loves Siamese cats, BF, his wife Eva and anything Egyptian!

You can contact him at jk@brugerforeningen.dk or visit his organisations website at www.brugerforeningen.dk

Sari Haikarainen is the EuroNPUD representative for Finland. Sari has been an advocate for drug users for many years and is important part of the organisation CHEP INFO HANK which supports people with Hepatitis C.

Fabrice Olivet is one of Europe's most experienced activists and he has been integral in shaping not only the French HIVAIDS / Drugs organisation and network, ASUD (with groups across France), but harm reduction and drug treatment over the last 30 years in France. Fabrice is one of the world's most senior activists who carries with him an important history and knowledge about the birth of the international drug user movement. Fabrice Olivet is an historic leader of the French harm reduction movement, a drug policy and treatment reformer and a writer. Since 1996 he has been managing ASUD (Auto-Support des Usagers de Drogues), an NGO recognised by the French government to represent drug users' interests in the French health system (for more information, visit: www.asud.org). Since 2013 he has been a member of the Commission Nationale des Stupéfiants (national commission on narcotics).  Graduated in history, he is a polemist engaged in several debates regarding the « french identity » . blog http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/fabrice-olivet/
Publication : La Question Métisse -The mixed people case-, Mille et une Nuits, Paris, 2011. An important person in the formation of both INPUD, as well as our own EuroNPUD, Fabrice is on EuroNPUD's executive committee, and is part of the High Level Advocacy Working Group. Fabrice can be found working at ASUD in Paris. ASUD stands for Auto-Support des Usagers de Drogues Contact Fabrice at: fabrice.olivet@asud.org Thanks to Nigel Brundson for the nice photo!

Dirk Schäffer is the EuroNPUD rep for Germany. Dirk is a long time activist and a founding member of both INPUD and EuroNPUD. He has been an important voice in Germany on issues of HIV and HCV and was the founding member of JES, the leading drug user organisation with groups across Germany. Dirk has worked closely with government developing one of the worlds first HCV strategies and he has been a leading advocate for widening access of HCV treatment to all drug users across Germany. As with many of our steering committee, there is not enough room to list all their achievements and how valuable they are to EuroNPUD and the drug using community.

Stephen Malloy is the UK representative for EuroNPUD. A Scottish activist of many years experience, Stephen currently specialises in Naloxone related issues and has worked tirelessly to put Naloxone in the hands of the drug using community in Scotland and across the UK. He also has many years experience working with the pharmaceutical industry and plays an important role developing the relationship between drug user networks and pharmaceuitcal industries. Stephen is Vice Chair of EuroNPUD. He is the main rep EuroNPUD Scotland  Extensive and varied experience in the substance use and 'misuse' space, with many of the recent years focused on the prevention of opioid and opioid related overdose and intervention with naloxone; from working with people who use drugs and other stakeholders around education, campaigning and local/national naloxone programme design and implementation, to consulting with manufacturers around naloxone forms, formulations and presentations. Further experience gained around other opioid agonists, partial antagonist and antagonists. Experience with regulatory processes and Marketing Authorisation applications, Risk Management Plans and Post Authorisation Safety Studies. Proven facilitator of community and clinical advisory boards, groups and networks where the consultation with and considerations by patients/users services and providers MUST be heard.You can contact Stephen at stephen@stephenmalloy.com

Christos Anastasiou is the representative for Greece and sits on the EuroNPUD Steering Committee. He is supported in this work by three other Greek activists,  Daphne Chronopoulou ,Giannis Kissas. 

Christos is a leading force in the drug users organisation/network in Greece, called Greek PeerNUPS which stands for Greek Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances.

Christos lives in Athens and can be contacted at Greek PeNUPS.

For more details visit their facebook page or go to the EuroNPUD page Networks and Groups.

Irish activist of many years, Ruaidhri McAuliffe  currently shares this position with Emily Reaper. Both are user community activists of many years standing and are well respected in both Ireland and Europe. They were also integral in starting drug user involvement in Ireland and getting it legitimised through the main service for drug user involvement UISCE  - The Union for Improved Services Communication and Education (UISCE) which is a drug users forum based in the North Inner City of Dublin.

website http://www.myuisce.org/

Andrea is the EuroNPUD representative for Italy.  He has played an important role in the dissemination of Naloxone in Italy and the drug user group Indifference Busters, located in Turin.

 Andrea has been an important part of the resurgence of the Italian drug user movement in recent years.

Ronny is the EuroNPUD represntative for Norway and is the founder of ProLAR - a member-based patient organization whose main purpose is to improve and safeguard the rights of patients in LAR (Medically Assisted Treatment -also known as OST Opiate Substitution Treatment). ProLAR also works to support with parents who use/d drugs /in treatment which is an area Ronny is passionate about. Ronny has been an important activist in Norway and Northern Europe for many years.

In 2017 Ronny was elected as Secretary to the the EuroNPUD Executive Committee.

Sergio is part of the vibrant Portuguese team of activists in EuroNPUD. He has been a peer support worker and specialist for many years and is currently president of CASO in Portugal.

Sergio has been a part of the new generation of drug user organising in Portugal and has been an important voice for drug users n Portugal's recent decriminalisation moves. 

Rui Miguel Coimbra Morais is the EuroNPUD representative for Portugal and leads a vibrant Portuguese team. He has been working in the field of drug user organising for many years and has studied and worked as a psychologist. Rui has been a vocal activist on the issue of drug user involvement and he has been part of an important voice for drug users as Portugal shifted to a decriminalisation model of drug policy bringing a great deal of insight to the work of EuroNPUD.

Janko Belin is from Ljubljana, Slovenija, where he is based today. He has a wide range of experience in community activism and grassroots organising, particularly when dealing with a repressive system “especially the aspects of the system as seen through a political/moral prism, including conducting the first survey with inmates in a Slovenian prison entitled 'The prevalence of illicit drug use in prison is Povšetova ". Janko would also fight battles with corrupt police officials. Between 2000 and 2002 Janko led a group in the Social Chamber of Slovenia that would prepare Slovenia’s national plan for harm reduction, entitled ‘Preparation methods and techniques of low-threshold work with drug addicts’. The last 20 years would see Janko plan and lead on the implementation of three priority projects in Slovenia:  KORAK  (fieldwork 1998), the Shelter ERNEST (2002) and the innovative ‘safe i.v. room’ (an experimental project, 2005-2008).  More recently (2011) Janko was elected as secretary of ENCOD (The European Coalition for Just and Effective drug Policies) and later in 2013 elected as president of ENCOD. Janko has also worked with issues extending to Naloxone and the empowerment of marginalised groups such as migrants with the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network.  Of drug user groups, Janko said “Our group called AREAL is situated in a squatted factory called ROG- and since 2011 we are part of the KOOPERATIVA ROG umbrella. We run outreach work with homeless PUD's and have a small facility for the distribution of food each day. We also provide a drop in service and beds for homeless PUD's and those recently released from prison. Today, Janko is working as a peer-support worker.  In a past life Janko also worked in film and Slovenian TV in a range of roles such as producer and Ass. Director. Janko is not just our Slovenian contact point for EuroNPUD -he is also our lead consultant in Campaigns, and he would lead on EuroNPUD’s first naloxone campaign 2016, and as part of  “‘Peer’ Support Don’t Punish” 2017. Janko is also a coach for the Twinning project that connects drug user groups with more experienced groups and provides mentorship/capacity building. He is also part of our advocacy /high level advocacy team with a particular interest in the issues affecting migrants. Janko also speaks English, German and Russian language and considers both Slovene and the Serbo-Croat language as his native one. He loves playing the trumpet and flute.

Antoniu is the EuroNPUD representative for the Catalan region of Spain. and an alternate for Spain.

He has been instrumental in developing drug user organising in the Catalan region of Spain and has been part of the important work giving Spanish groups a national presence in Spain.

Antoniu plays excellent harmonica!

Nikolas Ekland is the EuroNPUD representative for Sweden. He has been active participant in the field of HIV/AIDS in Sweden for some years. He has recently taken over as President of the Stockholm Drug Users Union, replacing Christina Paulsrud, who stays on with EuroNPUD as an alternate for Sweden.

Nikolas is Dr of osteopathy and he maintains a passion for harm reduction and the health of people who use drugs.

Christina was the president of the widely respected Stockholm Drug User Union in Sweden for over a decade (although in 2017 she changed jobs to work in drug treatment) . Christina is now an alternate for Sweden as Niklas Eklund took on her role as main Swedish representative for EuroNPUD (as he currently takes on her post as president also). 

Christina is a committed user activist of many years and has taken the Stockholm Drug Users Union from strength to strength. The organisation is a leading voice progressing the rights of people who use drugs across Stockholm and Sweden.

Erin O'Mara is currently the communications coordinator for EuroNPUD, overseeing areas such as the EuroNPUD website, researching and implementing new comms systems to improve communication amongst membership, and developing a social media presence. In staged increments,  the Communications Working Group will endeavour to communicate the vision of EuroNPUD members to the public and policy makers and will work towards a developing creative comms team to support EuroNPUD as it fights for change. Erin O’Mara has worked as an activist for over 25 years, representing the interests of people who use drugs both nationally and internationally. Erin has been at the centre of the British drug user movement almost since it began in the mid 1990’s, and became a vocal and committed member of many of Britain’s earliest drug user groups and initiatives. Erin was part of a group of founding members of INPUD, INWUD  and EuroNPUD. Erin also founded, edited and managed Black Poppy Magazine for over a decade, the UK’s first ‘lifestyle’ magazine for people who use drugs. It became a widely respected publication that would accurately reflect UK drug culture and as such, it is currently housed in the British Library. Erin became a vocal and committed member of many important grassroot and user-led initiatives, and was a member of city-wide/Mayoral committees and groups. She has presented at government and all parliamentary committees, consultations and policy discussions on subjects such as overdose, hepatitis C, HIV and women, and provided a valuable voice in a number of important research initiatives in the field of drugs. Erin is a published writer and has repeatedly appeared on television, radio and print raising awareness of the issues facing people who use drugs such as HIV, HCV, heroin prescribing, Naloxone and overdose. She has recently had a chapter published in the book, ‘Harm Reduction, it’s Principles Practice’, by Medicine Du Monde. Erin’s work as an activist, writer and member of INPUD has led to work on committees such as the United Nations Civil Society Taskforce on HIV/AIDS in 2011, and as a part of the World Health Organisations consultation committee on PrEP, amongst many others. Erin also coordinated the international user movement’s first global protest that saw 11 countries around the world come together to shame Russia about their policies towards drug users in 2011. She also coordinated Britain’s first international drug users Remembrance Day in 2008. More recently, Erin was on the 2017 working group that updated the UK’s Drug Misuse and Dependence Clinical Guidelines (UK Guidelines on Clinical Management). She also volunteers at Release in their drug team and helpline, and is the Communications consultant for EuroNPUD and continues to write for the Black Poppy blog, online. Erin loves animals, the environment, great music and the ocean.

Mat Southwell is a leading global activist of many years experience and is currently Project Manager for EuroNPUD, overseeing and providing technical support to the various Working Group Coordinators.

Based in England, Mat has worked in the drugs and HIV fields as a practitioner, manager and activist for 25 years. Mat was an early harm reduction worker in the UK and in 1991 founded the pioneering Healthy Options Team (HOT), a harm reduction agency that employed peer workers and used community mobilisation strategies with people who use drugs (PWUD).

Mat went on to be Head of Service for the wider health-based drug services in East London until 1998. This included managing Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) programmes and reorganising drug treatment services to promote the involvement of General Practitioners and the effective management of PWUD with complex needs.

In 1999 Mat came out publicly as a drug user on a BBC TV documentary and has since been involved in developing drug user networks in the UK and globally. He has been involved in the grassroots drug user group Respect, and also specialist drug user groups on dance drugs, crack cocaine and cannabis.

Mat has sustained an interest in developing collaborative peer and professional responses to new drugs trends and stimulant drugs. Mat has a particular interest in ketamine and recently gave evidence to the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Working Group on Ketamine.

Mat is also an experienced drug policy and drugs/HIV global advocate.

He currently runs COACT which works across the world in regions such as Afghanistan Eastern Europe and Myanmar to promote drug user organising under some of the worlds harshest regimes.

Mat has also been instrumental in the formation of INPUD and EuroNPUD and is currently one of the world's most well respected activists.

You can contact Mat directly through COACT, here

Thanks to Nigel Brundson for the picture.

Buff Cameron

Based in Northern Ireland, Buff’s full-time job is as Co-ordinator of the Drugs Accommodation Support Project with Extern in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Buff works with people who inject heroin and who are homeless, helping them gain access to hostel accommodation and other services.

The hostel project is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and people are not excluded from the project for using heroin. This is due to a unique protocol that has been agreed by the Police, Public Prosecution Service, Housing Executive, NHS and Public Health Agency. Developing the project and securing this innovative multi-sectoral partnership around the management of homeless active heroin users has been a key achievement for Buff and for other involved partners.

Buff has worked with the National Health Service (NHS) in Belfast helping establish the first harm reduction outreach service there. Buff is also a partner in the Northern Ireland based training company U-Turn Training, which has developed an opiate overdose application for smartphones.

Buff has a long history of community organising around a number of political and social issues in the midst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This period saw paramilitary groups targeting people who use drugs and Buff learned key skills that he shares as Coact’s security expert

Daphne, the EuroNPUD Chair, is a writer, blogger and radio producer. She is a feminist and an activist who has worked as a volunteer teacher and for environmental causes.

She has been a drug user for many decades.

She is a founding member of PeerNUPS (Greek Drug User Peers Network) serving at it’s Executive Committee and she is a well- known voice of drug users in Greece through her articles, books, radio shows, social media and activist presence.

A firm believer in human rights, against the Prohibition of Drugs and an advocate for Drug User visibility, community participation and peer involvement in decision making and Harm Reduction, Daphne believes that EuroNPUD has a very important role not only for drug users but also in influencing society against stigma and implementing fair laws and policies.