Public health: Community action programme 1996-2000 on the prevention of drug dependence

In its common position, the Council amended the Commission's proposal significantly, particularly as regards the following points: - the establishment of the programme: the Council introduced changes aimed at strengthening cooperation and support for the measures taken by the Member States in implementing the programme; in terms of objectives, it limited the scope of the programme to two key points: . data, research and evaluation, . information, health education and training; - the implementation of the programme: the Council strengthened the intergovernmental aspect of the implementation of the measures together with the participation of the Member States in the coordination and organisation of actions; - comitology: it introduced a mixed committee (both management and advisory depending on the issue) to allow the Member States to be fully involved in the important decisions concerning the programme. As regards the information to be forwarded to the committee, it insisted that the Commission should inform the committee of the financial support granted and activities directly related to the implementation of the measures; - budget: the total allocation set by the Council was limited to ECU 27 million rather than ECU 28.5 million; - consistency and complementarity: as requested by the European Parliament, there was greater complementarity with the other related Community programmes and initiatives and with measures taken by the European Drugs Monitoring Centre and the Union's action plan to combat drugs; - annex (actions to be implemented under the programme): the Council totally restructured the annex in order to establish two major types of actions corresponding to the programme's objectives. It thus did away with many of the innovative actions proposed by the EP (particularly as regards high-risk groups and areas) and proposed a different structure for actions initially put forward by the Commission. The common position did not incorporate a series of amendments adopted by the EP and included in the amended proposal, including the following: - the promotion of socio-preventive initiatives likely to influence the social causes of drug use and encourage the reintegration of drug addicts within the framework of other Community policies and programmes, including the Structural Funds; - support for the completion of a Community guide to bodies involved in the rehabilitation of drug addicts; - the promotion of a joint analysis of the preventative policies and programmes implemented in the Member States in order to strengthen coordination in this area; - the recitals highlighting the multidimensional nature of the fight against drugs and the list of partner organisations to help implement the programme. �