LOT Drug – Prevention and reduction of drug use among young people is a project initiated by Romanian Angel Appeal in 2004 as part of a series of European projects dedicated to young people. The primary objective is to prevent and reduce drug use and its effects among schoolchildren and young people.

Period: 2004 – 2006 (3 years);

The goal of the project was to contribute to reducing drug use and the associated risks among young people, thus leading to limiting public health issues.

Project objectives:

• To prevent / reduce drug use among high school students in three high schools in Bucharest;
• To raise awareness among teenagers about the need to get involved in finding solutions for the problems that affect them (such as drug use);

Sponsor: Regione Piemonte – Italy

Partners:

• National Anti-Drug Agency;
• Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports;

Project beneficiaries: 36 students from 3 high schools in Bucharest who were trained as per educators and, indirectly, all high school students from Bucharest.

The leading idea of the LOT-Drug project is to involve a group of students from 3 high schools in information and prevention activities, addressed both to them and to their respective groups – high school students from Bucharest.

Project activities:

• To train students as peer educators on prevention and reduction of drug use;
• To organize information sessions about drugs during various events for young people (festivals, concerts, sporting events etc);
• To design IEC materials on prevention by the students from the high schools included in the project, to organize a Forum on Addictions for both young people and adults and to organize a Congress on Drug Use Prevention;

At the end of the project, both challenges and results were made public. The kind of intervention developed by Romanian Angel Appeal can be an important starting point in replicating the model at regional or national level, actively involving young people and local authorities.