Aaenzija Sedqa has launched the National Report on the 2011 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) and a pack of new informative material for young persons and parents.

During a press conference, the Minister for Justice, Dialogue and the Family, Chris Said said that the government has drafted a National Alcohol Policy and currently discussions are underway with the major stakeholders involved.

The draft of the National Alcohol Policy proposes 52 actions within 6 different sectors: market regulation; crime, disorder and victimisation; occupational health and safety; demand reduction; evaluation, research and training; and international collaboration.

Minister Chris Said added that once the policy is finalised, government will be seeking the public’s views through a period of public consultation. “We will be encouraging everyone in the private sector and the alcohol industry, as well as parents and other stakeholders, so as to participate and help us reach the main goal of this Policy: that of introducing a sense of responsibility in alcohol consumption.”

The press conference, presided by Ms Sina Bugeja, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, was also attended by various stakeholders and professionals working in the field. Ms Bugeja mentioned that although the majority of society seems to be more concerned about the use and abuse of illicit substances, the results shown in the ESPAD 2011 National Report show that alcohol and tobacco are the most common substances amongst young people, although the results show that the use of tobacco decreased and percentages on some variables related to the use of alcohol also decreased when compared with what was reported in the 2007 study. There was also a decrease in the use of illicit substances from 15% in 2007 to 12%in 2011. These results are very significant for Aaenzija Sedqa since they provide an indication on the effectiveness of interventions being carried out in the education and preventive sectors.

In his address and presentation of the ESPAD 2011 National Report, Mr Jesmond Schembri, Operations Director of Aaenzija Sedqa, referred that now that these figures and statistics are available, we should be pro-active and use such information to design material and programmes aimed towards generating more awareness on substance use amongst young persons. Mr Schembri mentioned that the Agency already bases its work on the results of studies such as ESPAD. In fact, he said that the Agency felt the need to launch new preventive material on use of substances for young persons.

Locally the study was coordinated by Ms Sharon Arpa, Research Senior Executive within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, who presented the national results during this afternoon’s press conference. A questionnaire was distributed to 15-16 year old students in Form 5 (a total of 3,377 students) in all local secondary schools during February 2011.

This national report provides a scientific local picture regarding substance use, attitude and behaviour amongst 15-16 year olds in Malta compared with the reports of the past years. In turn, this also thus provides us with a comparative picture on young persons’ change in behaviour vis-a- vis substance abuse throughout the years. This information should be used to improve the policies and practices that amongst others can be a guide to the prevention sector.

The Maltese results illustrate that in general there was a small decrease in the figures related to the use of tobacco and alcohol and also a decrease in the use of illicit drugs.

The majority of students reported lifetime (90%), last year (86%) and last month (68%) alcohol use before the study was made. This illustrates that although tabacco remains the most popular substance amongst young persons living in Malta, the number of young people consuming alcohol 40 times or more in their lifetime decreased from 33% in 2007 to 30% in 2011.

This report also shows that young persons are making less use of tobacco. The percentage of those who answered that they smoked cigarettes at least once in their lifetime for 2011 was 38%, a reduction from the 46% that was reported in the study of 2007. The increase in the cost of tobacco may also have influenced this decline.

Following some increase in the lifetime prevalence of illicit drug use from the 2003 report to that of 2007, the 2011 report is characterised by a change of almost 3% in this regard. Amongst all students, the reported lifetime use of cannabis declined from 13% (2007) to 10% (2011). This decline contributed to the fall from 15% (2007) to 12% (2011) in the use of any illicit drug (which incorporates cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, LSD or other hallucinogens, heroin and GHB).

A copy of the ESPAD 2011 National Report is available for download from www.sedqa.gov.mt.

Together with the ESPAD 2011 National Report, Aaenzija Sedqa launched a new pack of informative material prepared by the Agency’s Prevention Team aimed for young persons and parents. This is part of the educational interventions which the Agency do on a regular basis apart from various informative campaigns and prevention programmes. The new informative material launched today includes leaflets on: Cannabis, Mephedrone, Inhalants, Ecstasy and LSD. The copy of this material is available for download from www.sedqa.gov.mt. Alternatively one may contact the Agency on 2388 51100 or sedqa@gov.mt to request free copies.

During today’s event Aaenzija Sedqa also marked its 18th anniversary which falls on the 26th June – the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Through the commemoration of this day, various countries take the opportunity to express their commitment in promoting a drug- free society and we are joining them through this initiative.

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