Drug prevention training developed in Ghent to be rolled out across Europe

A drug prevention training programme developed by HoGent university of applied sciences and arts will be rolled out across the European Union, thanks to a partnership between HoGent and the European Union Drug Agency (EUDA). The training conceived in Ghent should help to close the gap between prevention science and practice, reported Flemish public broadcaster VRT.

HoGent developed the online and physical training programme around drug prevention, in the EU-funded project “Frontline Politeia”, in collaboration with 14 European partners. The project was completed at the end of 2023 and some countries, like Italy, are already using the training conceived in Ghent. Through the new partnership with the European Union Drug Agency, HoGent's training will now be further rolled out in the rest of the European Union.

“We still see a gap between what prevention science says and the translation into practice,” said Annemie Coone, coordinator of the project at HoGent, to VRT. The training should help to close that gap. It specifically targets “frontline” prevention workers such as teachers, the local police and youth and social workers.

“In the training sessions, we work with data on drug use among a particular group and look together with these prevention workers at what exactly constitutes good prevention,” Coone explained. “For instance, informing young people about drugs is insufficient. It’s important to focus on social skills among youngsters.”

Youngsters for example need to learn to think critically about drugs and how to say no if they are offered drugs. “In the training sessions, we enter into a dialogue with prevention workers about this. We want to look at, evaluate and improve the policies they implement together, to go towards a prevention policy that we know from research works.”

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