THE Deputation of Alicante approved the Plan Provincial of Drug addictions and other addictive disorders (PPD) 2024-2027, a working tool that aims to reverse the data that reflect the high incidence of alcohol and other drug use among minors in the province, with emphasis on the prevention and attention to the mental health of children and adolescents. .
“With this multi-year plan, we demonstrate the commitment of this provincial institution in the search for solutions to one of the main problems that we currently face, since, according to official data, the Valencian Community registers the highest rate prevalence of mental disorders“, with an 11% risk of mental health among young people under 15 years old with very high percentages of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, tranquilizers or Internet consumption”, explained the deputy of the region, Loreto Serrano.
In this sense, one of the objectives of the new Drug Addiction Plan is to “reverse” these data “by betting on prevention and approaching the problem of addictions from normality and not from abnormality or stigmatization” , declared the provincial official, who clarified that the surveys intended to prepare the National Medicines Plan reflect that the prevalence of drug consumption alcohol in the province of Alicante is 6.2%, eight tenths further than the Community as a whole and 1.1 points more than the national average.
As for the tobaccoits consumption in Alicante shows values similar to those of the whole country, but in the case of cannabis The prevalence -6.1%- is higher than the regional prevalence -5.8%- and national prevalence -4.6%-.
Likewise, the age at which consumption begins is also notable: 13 years for alcohol; 14 in tobacco and cannabis; and 15 in other substances.
As for Internetaround 8% of schoolchildren in Alicante make problematic use of video gamesalso emphasizing that a quarter of minors present problems of compulsive usethe figures being similar to those of the rest of our Community and Spain as a whole.
“First of all, these numbers very alarming“From the Provincial Delegation of Alicante, we will continue to bet on prevention to face the problem of addictions, approaching it from a normal perspective,” said Serrano, who highlighted that the Provincial Plan to Combat Drug Addiction has the participation of professionals and is framed in the agreement recently signed with the Ministry of Health to promote drug addiction prevention actions in municipalities that do not have community units for Addictive behavioral prevention, estimating this year the amount to 280,000 euros, in accordance with the Valencian Mental Health and Addiction Plan 2024-2027.
At this point, the representative indicated that “we need to change our approach and, therefore, with this PDP, actions based on scientific evidence are proposed, prioritizing prevention and health promotion, with particular attention to childhood and adolescence, as well as serious mental disorders.
The Plan includes 5 strategic lines and 13 actions. The first is the improvement of prevention, with the implementation of programs with scientific evidence and providing technical support to municipalities, particularly those of less of 20,000 inhabitants. The second axis is the promotion of the participation of families, educational communities and NGOs in the prevention of consumption by offering advice and technical support.
The third axis is to facilitate the coordination interinstitutional prevention by developing work protocols. The fourth concerns improving the level of training of professionals involved in prevention programs, by proposing a continuing training plan each year and facilitating their access to international courses such as the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC). Finally, the fifth axis of the plan is to support research by promoting the production of studies and technical reports providing data on specific needs.
The Provincial Plan to combat drug addiction and other addictive disorders 2024-2027 provides for multi-year planning which will be determined in the successive budgets approved by both the Provincial Deputation and the Generalitat Valenciana.
