"Production
of awareness material and realization of informative campaign
on drug prevention issues"
As
part of the "Northwestern Cooperation" a plan of urban development
in Northwestern Thessaloniki, within the parameters of measures
3.8 and 3.9 of the Regional Operational Program (ROP) for
Central Macedonia, we run a campaign with the title "Let's
talk about the essence".
Putting in particular an emphasis on the information and
sensitization of elected local government representatives
and on officials working in social services provided by
Local Government, since they are the ones who plan relevant
policies for youth in the local level, a seminar
was organized last December. There, 1.800 representatives
of Local Governments which take part in our programs were
mobilized, as well as other local officials, together with
representatives from professional organizations and financial
circles within the regions of responsibility for this activity.
Also, in order to inform the officials of social services
of North-Western Thessaloniki (health, education and sports
officials) since they are the ones who come in contact on
a daily basis with the families and they can advance issues
of prevention and health, another one day seminar
was organized, which it actually run for a number
of days and it involved visits to ITHAKI and etc, mobilizing
approximately 60 officials of L.G. social services.
In the period of June 15th to July 15th, an extensive information
campaign was run with radio and television ads
in the most popular Thessaloniki and national media, thus
attracting the attention of thousands of listeners and viewers.
All those people had the opportunity to hear a message that
demolishes myths and stereotypes related to drug addiction,
thus contributing in the removal of social exclusion of
unemployed ex-drug users or people in detoxication treatment.
A similar purpose was also served with a publication with
a print run of 20.000 copies and with a
notebook in 1.000 copies and, our ads in local magazines,
as well as the issuing of approximately 50 Press Releases
regarding our activities resulting in multiple publicity.
The content of our web site (www.pyxida.org.gr),
is also structured and presented in a similar manner, as
well as our fortnightly newsletter, send
to approximately 2.000 people, which, by making use of the
new technologies also approach young people, trying to sensitize
them on issues of prevention of substance use and on issues
for the advancement of health.
Finally, an exceptional tool for the professionals in this
field is our Guide to the Psychosocial Services
for Thessaloniki Prefecture that we published in
3.000 copies.
The Managing Authority of the Regional Operation Program
for Central Macedonia has chosen our case to present it
as "best practice" in their publishing
trimestrial newspaper (July 2006).
European Drug
Addiction Prevention trial
http://www.eudap.net/
EU-Dap is the first evaluation of an European program aimed
at preventing drug and tobacco onset and alcohol abuse.
The EU-Dap is a pioneering project, since it is the first
time that a drug addiction prevention program is evaluated
on a European level, setting the basis for future school
application interventions of a high quality and effectiveness.
The program is supported by the European Commission since
2002, while the continuation of the program as Eu-Dap 2
has also been approved as part of the European Program for
Public Health 2003-2008. The PYXIDA Prevention Centre will
be also participating in the ΕU-Dap 2.
The project endeavour mobilized resources from the following
countries: Italy (coordinating country), Greece, Germany,
Austria, Sweden, Belgium and the European Monitoring Centre
on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), based in Portugal
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/).
Greece was represented by the Greek Focal Point (National
Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction - Ε.Κ.ΤΕ.Π.Ν.-ΕΠΙΨΗ)
which carried out the first phase in association with PYXIDA.
First results
The results of the study have been presented
during the conference in Lisbon, in 15-17 December 2005,
in the premises of the EMCDDA. After the intervention, the
students involved in the intervention show a 26% lower probability
to smoke daily (OR=0.74, IC95% 0.55-0.99), a 35% lower probability
to have frequent alcohol intoxications (OR=0.65, IC95% 0.46-0.92)
and 23% lower probability to use cannabis (OR=0.77, IC95%
0.61-0.98). No difference exists between the three different
programmes. All are equally effective compared to usual
curricula.
The Participants in the conference were:
- Members of the network (REITOX (www.emcdda.europa.eu/?nnodeid=403)
- Representatives of IREFREA (www.irefrea.org/)
- The participants stressed the fact that the EU-Dap results
are particularly encouraging and positive
- Representatives from the monitoring committees of many countries
wish to propose the application of "Unplugged" in
their countries, as a good practice school program for prevention.
Already on the web side of the organization there is the respective
publicity.
The conference was judged to be highly successful, since representatives
from important European and international bodies were informed
about the effectiveness of the Eu-Dap, which was welcomed
in a particularly positive manner, as well as positive is
the possibility of the program to be applied throughout Europe.
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