Drug prevention experts highlight the need to prevent alcohol use among young people

Madrid, 28 April 2010. The coordinators of the Drug national plans from the EU Member States highlighted at their meeting in Madrid the need to increase the prevention of alcohol use among young people.

The meeting concluded that alcohol is present in all cases of polydrug use [1]. The experts also noted that there is a direct link between binge drinking and the use of other drugs and that binge drinking patterns increase by six the likelihood of polydrug use in young people.

Dr. Josep Guardia from Sociodrogalcohol emphasized that alcohol is the preferred drug of young people and the entrance door to the consumption of other drugs.

The meeting was organised under the Spanish presidency of the EU and was chaired by the government delegate for the Spanish national drugs plan, Carmen Moya. Participants included as well High level representatives from the European Commission (DG Social Affairs, Health and Justice), and representatives of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug addiction (EMCDDA) and Europol.

For more information visit: http://www.eu2010.es/en/agenda/grupostrabajoycomites/evento63.html?idioma=en

[1] The broad definition of ‘polydrug' used by many Member States is the use of more than one drug or type of drug by an individual — consumed at the same time or sequentially (as defined in the WHO lexicon). In Europe, the concept of polydrug use dates back to the 1970s. In its broadest terms, polydrug use is defined as the use of an illegal drug plus another legal or illegal drug.