Reduce cannabis use among young Europeans from 15 to 18 and avoid the risks associated with its use -especially with its abusive use-, is the goal of a project supported by the European Commission, which involved the FAD fad.es (Foundation Against Drug Addiction), as coordinator of a group in which there are five other European organizations from four countries (Spain, Italy, Portugal and Romania).
As part of the project, entitled “European implementation of CAPPYC (Cannabis Abuse Prevention Program for Young Consumers) and evaluation of their results using a scale measuring attitudes towards drug use”- a prevention program that will reach a total of 2,400 young people between 15 and 18 years in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Romania will be implemented.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, over 14 million Europeans aged 15 to 34 have used cannabis in the last year.
The aim of the preventive action is twofold: firstly reduce the intention of cannabis use and abuse in the youth group and, second, better analyze the circumstances surrounding the consumption variables, creating some scales and instruments to better understand the behavior and the risk factors related to it.
The project will be conducted by a consortium made in addition to FAD, by the Foundation of the National University of Distance Education (FUNED), the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) in Elche, CESIE in Italy, the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) and the AMOS NGO in Romania.
FAD will coordinate the project and its role will also have to do with the design and implementation of the prevention program, consistent with the actions that each entity operates in other countries. The two Spanish university entities will be responsible for leading the design and use of consumption evaluation instruments, of risk factors and subsequently of the applied program.
AN INNOVATIVE TRANSNATIONAL PREVENTION PROGRAM
The prevention program with the participation of young people from four European countries simultaneously is a new educational approach, intended to enable young people to reflect on three ideas about drug consumption that they usually adopt without having been sufficiently thought out rational way:
- The relationship between consumption and problems avoidance,
- The expectation of fun deposited in the cannabis use and
- The supposed need for integration in a group as a motivator of consumption that perform or intend to perform.
To do this, the program proposes 7 sessions with each group of young people, where different dynamics are carried out supported by an audiovisual developed specifically to encourage reflection about the risks and benefits associated with cannabis use. The intent of the program is to increase the awareness of the risks of such conduct and adjust the benefits, as these are frequently clearly unbalanced.
This project is funded by the DG Justice of the European Commission by 80% of the cost, which is set at about € 375,000 over nearly 2 years. When finished, both cannabis abuse prevention program, evaluated in the four countries where it has been implemented, as well as the instruments for measuring risk factors associated with such consumption, also from each participating country will be offered to the entire European scientific and educational community.
CANNABIS USE IN EUROPE
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in all age groups.
An estimated 14.6 million young people between 15 and 34 years used cannabis in the past year (11.2%).
Spain ranks fourth classification (with a prevalence rate of 17%), second only to Czech Republic (18.5%), Denmark (17.6%) and France (17.5%). The lower cannabis use is detected in Romania (0.6%), Malta (1.9%) and Greece (3.2%).
For further information:
FAD (coordinator) Beatriz Pestaña bpestana@fad.es |
María Sánchez mjsanchez@fad.es
CESIE: youth@cesie.org
