 I grew up in a small city in Czechoslovakia, under communism, but in 90s my whole world opened up and I started my career as an epidemiologist and later on I became the head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs in the Czech Republic. And since then, EMCDA and its RETOX network have played an important role in my professional story. I appreciate how the EMCDA has deepened our understanding of the drug phenomenon in all its dimensions. Apart from informing drug policy, EMCDA has a strong, peer-driven impact on the scientific and public health community dealing with drug issues across Europe. EMCDA has helped me also to think globally and in a broader context when dealing with our local problems here. And what I enjoy most is networking, networking with experts from different cultures and different disciplines and learning from our diverse knowledge but common challenges.