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

The Commission stated in its opinion following Parliament's second reading that it was able to accept, in full or in part, 11 of the 23 amendments adopted by plenary. These amendments concern: - the multidisciplinary approach to the drug phenomenon; - the fact that drug addicts are, above all, people with a health problem who need treatment and preventive action; - the prime objective of the programme, which is to enhance awareness of the drugs problem and to improve recognition of risk situations and early detection of drug dependency; - the particular attention which needs to be paid to the prison environment; - the participation of NGOs and therapy communities in the implementation of the programme; - ensuring that this programme was consistent with other EC (rather than national) initiatives; - the reference to the relatives and guardians of drug addicts under the generic term "support for persons in contact" with drug users; - the reference to the relevant environments (family, school, leisure etc.) with regard to information for young people; - increased recourse to the skills of people who may come into contact with potential user groups; - the promotion of multidisciplinary cooperation for the purposes of prevention. The other amendments were rejected; they related mainly to: - the definition of a policy on drug users; - the distinction between hard and soft drugs; - the allocation of new tasks and modi operandi to the EMCDDA; - comitology (on which the Commission maintains its reservation); - the reference to information for the European Parliament; - certain actions proposed by the European Parliament which, in the Commission's opinion, go beyond the framework of the programme (e.g. psychological/social support for drug users, action on the ground etc.).�