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EU-Dap
was granted by the European Commission within the 2002 and 2006 Community
Programme for the prevention of drug dependence.
Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are addictive substances, with similar attributes yet they differ in onset and intensity. Once established, addiction is often an uncontrollable compulsion to seek and use substances. 
Although some adolescents use substances simply to experience the pleasant feeling or euphoria or to gain acceptance by their peers, even occasional use can inadvertently lead to addiction. For this reason, primary prevention programs for youth should aim at preventing the onset of substance use, and at reducing the transition from experimental use (first use) to addiction.
The
school is the appropriate setting for youth substance use prevention programs
for a number of reasons:
Most tobacco and
drug users began before reaching adulthood, thereby
making it crucial to focus on prevention of substance
use among school-age children and adolescents, before
their beliefs and expectations about smoking and other
substance use have been established.
The school
setting offers the most systematic and efficient way
to reach a substantial number of students each year.
In most
countries, schools are in a position to enforce school
policies. When applied fairly and consistently,
policies can support students to abstain from alcohol,
tobacco and illicit drug use.
The
aims of the EU-Dap study are:
To develop an
european prevention program to be implemented in the
school setting
To evaluate the
effectiveness of the program
To encourage the
use of effective prevention programs in the European
Community and the sharing of good practices
To contribute to
the decrease in the prevalence of smoking, unhealthy
drinking and use of drugs among European youth.
Phase II of the EU-Dap initiative officially started with a kick-off meeting,
held in Turin, Italy 20-21 October 2006. The steering committee discussed
strategies in order to:
Revise the EU-Dap
program manual
Spread the EU-Dap
program to new countries
Disseminate
effective prevention programs
Conduct a field
study to evaluate the effectiveness of the
dissemination strategies
The
phase I countries that will continue to phase II include: Austria, Belgium,
Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Poland and the Czech Republic have joined the
EU-Dap steering committee to implement the program as new participating
countries.
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