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

In its amended proposal, the Commission took over 20 of the 56 amendments put forward by Parliament at first reading. They related to the following points: - the date of the programme: 1996-2001 rather than 1995-2000; - the fact that drug addiction causes health problems and is a multidimensional issue; - the inclusion in the programme of elements aimed at reducing the risks associated with drug addiction and promoting greater awareness of these risks and of the drugs phenomenon as such; - giving greater consideration to high-risk groups (young people and marginal groups); - the implementation of the programme in conjunction with public and private bodies, NGOs as well as therapy communities and social welfare cooperatives working in this field; - making the programme more consistent with the Union's action plan to combat drugs (particularly as regards reducing demand) as well as with other relevant Community programmes or socio-preventive measures at national level designed to combat drugs (for example, the reintegration of drug addicts into society); - establishing the programme's budget: ECU 28.5 million; - the participation of the associated CEECs, Cyprus and Malta in the programme; - extending the list of actions to be implemented (annex to the programme): support is to be provided, in particular, for the following: . as regards information: making Europeans more aware of the drugs problem, organising European Drug Prevention Weeks, targeting information at high-risk or particularly vulnerable groups, providing telephone help-lines and eventually setting up a single standard telephone number in all the Member States, . as regards high-risk groups: initiatives in relevant environments (home, leisure and school) and high-risk areas, particularly by creating a network at Community level of these environments (for example, schools in those areas) or specific groups (drug addicts who use intravenous injections, pregnant mothers, prisoners), drawing up a Community guide listing the bodies involved in the rehabilitation of drug addicts, . as regards increasing awareness of the drugs phenomenon: carrying out studies and research on the risks associated with drug addiction, . as regards training: providing teachers, youth leaders and those who come into contact with drug users (the medical profession, the judiciary and the police) with the necessary information, . as regards the coordination of national measures: promoting analysis of the policies to be implemented in this field at Member State level and planning joint transnational measures to prevent drug addiction. None of the other amendments could be accepted since they: - went beyond the framework of the programme or came under other health programmes or the Union's action plan to combat drugs; - involved a political assessment of national strategies and legislation in this field and thus went beyond the limits of Article 129 of the Treaty on European Union; - represented a more restrictive or less flexible approach to the programme. �