European Drug Prevention Week
The third European Drug Prevention Week takes place from 16 to 22 November 1998 in all EU Member States and Norway. It will be coordinated and co-financed by the European Commission, in association with national drug prevention authorities, within the framework of the Community Action Plan for the prevention of drug dependence. The central aim of this year's event is to raise public awareness of the preventive strategies that have been put in place to combat the problem of drug dependency in Europe. The event, which was formally launched in Vienna, Austria, on 5 and 6 November 1998, will be targeted in particular at young people, aiming to identify specific groups that may be particularly vulnerable to drugs. National awareness campaigns in each of the 16 participating countries will also be organised to promote the benefits of transnational partnerships to tackle the problem of synthetic drugs. The importance of the event was underlined by the European Commissioner for public health, Mr Padraig Flynn, who stated "The threat posed to our young people by new synthetic drugs has been well documented. I am delighted that this issue will be a focus of the 1998 European Week, and I want to stress the Commission's determination to promote closer cooperation between the Member States in order that coordinated exchanges of experience and best practice can be used to tackle the serious problem of drug dependence across the EU".