Pompidou Group - Combating drug abuse and drug trafficking

Treatment of young drug users

The platform adopted a series of recommendations and orientations to improve practice in this domain. As a result, a publication entitled “Young People and Drugs: Care and Treatment” was made available in November 2006.

It is intended for all people who directly have to do with young people with problematic drug use, such as physicians (GPs), psychologists, pedagogues, addiction-care specialists and teachers and proposes ways for more effective treatment.

See the document

The Platform acknowledges that examples of effective treatment include offers of treatment services that combine all available sources of support, at various levels, including from peer groups, from family and from others who play a great role in the lives of the young people concerned.

It advocates that treatment and support services develop specific programmes that target 18 to 25 year old, who are no longer considered children but have not reached full adulthood. The availability of services should not be organised along age-limits but rather according to the developmental needs of the individual client.

To avoid long-term problematic drug use, with its negative social and health problems, the platform recalls that it is essential to target the young people who appear fully integrated and functional in society while consuming large quantities of drugs.

In general, it considers of great importance to ensure that the mental health dimension is addressed better in all treatment and support efforts and drug treatment is considered as a integral part of public health policy.

Back to the page      Files