Those who abuse heroin are among the first to seek help because of the easy accessibility of such help. In Malta the delay time – from when a person begins abusing drugs to when that person seeks help – is relatively short, he said.

Notwithstanding this, Sedqa still believes that prevention is much better than cure and that the prevention campaigns should be brought up-to-date as much as possible. With this in mind, more than 55,000 primary and secondary students have received information in the form of prevention programmes at school. For the past 10 years, apart from offering care services to substance abusers and their families, Sedqa has also been offering prevention programmes.

To mark the European Day against Drugs, Mr Gerada and his team paid a visit to Education Minster Louis Galea to emphasise their constant work and effort, in collaboration with the Education Department, through all the stages of these programmes.

Mr Gerada said that according to Sedqa’s statistics, in the past few years the percentage of young

people experimenting with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs has stabilised. Other research also shows that although young Maltese people drink, Malta still has the lowest rates of young people abusing illegal substances compared to other European countries. This is mainly the result of the prevention work done in school, as well as other prevention programmes in the community. He said that in their campaigns, Sedqa is putting more emphasis on alcohol abuse than drug abuse, in view of its greater prevalence among young people.

Dr Gerada expressed his satisfaction that a recent European survey of 16-year-olds has revealed a lower rate of drug abuse among Maltese youths of this age than their European counterparts.

Mr Gerada also presented Dr Galea with a dossier, entitled Crossroads, of newly-prepared lesson plans for Personal and Social Development teachers. These are lessons, supported by statistics and exercises, that teachers can use in the class room. He said that other dossiers on other subjects are currently being prepared. As from next year, he said, Sedqa will start providing this material in an interactive format through the Internet.

Dr Galea insisted that teachers are vital in educating students about health lifestyles and against addiction. He said that it is the teachers in classrooms who have the critical role of giving children information and educating students about making the right choices, as well as teaching them how to deal with peer pressure and addiction. He said teachers can educate students about the risks involved in eating junk food, drinking alcohol, smoking and gambling, among others.