David Pešek is the manager of the drop in center of SANANIM NGO in Prague. SANANIM is now one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the Czech Republic that provides complex services in the area of prevention, treatment and re-socialization of non-alcoholic drug addictions.
David believes that faith and compassion makes sense. That life is meaningful and that it makes sense to look for it. That things have their time. That there are multiple paths to recover. That helplessness is mostly nonsense, and if not, it is necessary to accept it. That treatment works. That change is possible. That falling down to the bottom is completely useless concept. That the war on drugs should end and rational approaches should start. That understanding is better than judging and help is better than repression. That the question is not: "Why addiction?" but: "Why the pain?" That the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but it is relationships to other people.
A new movie produced by the alumni of our video training, tells the story of Petr, a 50 years old man from Prague, who lost his leg, his has no home, no job – but his has now hope to change his life with the help of opiate substitution treatment.
“Together with you, we create a city we want to live in.” David Pesek’s video and article about how local residents, NGOs and drug user activists recapture the city for a day.
Watch the video of David Pešek (SANANIM, Czech Republic) about soccer, drugs, faith, honesty, equality, boundaries, relationships, trust, social workers, seven teams, and dozens of fans and spectators.
Drugreporter’s Czech partner SANANIM presents: “Public debate – Foetus on meth”. A debate about the consequences of drug use during pregnancy on both the mother and her newborn.
Café Therapy is a restaurant in Prague, its employees are clients of drug rehabilitation services provided by the NGO SANANIM. Watch this video interview by David Pešek with Josef “Pepe” Sedivy about his mission and belief in the field of drug services.
Vašek is a drug user; when he was younger, he played football for many years. He had a dream – to have a football cup for drug users. Watch this video of David Pešek from the Czech SANANIM Contact Centre about the Harm Reduction Cup 2016.
Deep compassion and cool-headed pragmatism – this is the essence of harm reduction in Amsterdam. Read about the adventures of a Czech social worker, David Pešek, who spent a week-long internship at the Regenboog Groep in Amsterdam to see how the everydays go there!
Our Russian speaking video reporters visited Prague to explore drug laws and harm reduction services there. Please watch their short video report with English subtitles!
A public debate on the possibilities and limits of decriminalisation was organised by SANANIM NGO in the Czech Republic on 1st June. Read this article and watch the video to find out more about the event.
