Preventing addictive behaviours in children
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 13 October 2023 (24th sitting) (see Doc. 15830, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and
Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Diana Stoica). Text adopted by the Assembly on
13 October 2023 (24th sitting).See also Recommendation 2262 (2023).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly is dismayed
by the addictive behaviours of children and the consequences for
their mental and physical health and development. It notes that
to date prevention policies have not succeeded in curbing the growth
in these behaviours or the increasing number of forms they take.
2. Although cannabis is still one of the most widely used drugs,
including by children, the continued emergence of new drugs is a
growing problem factor when it comes to devising drug prevention
policies. New addictive behaviours, linked mainly to the use of
digital tools and applications, complicate attempts to address the
problem. Exposure of children to addictive substances and addictive
behaviours increased in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and
the ensuing socio-economic crisis. During lockdowns, pre-existing
prevention measures often lacked flexibility and hence effectiveness.
3. The Assembly seeks to uphold every child’s right to a healthy
life, as underlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child, which guarantees “the right of the child to the enjoyment
of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for
the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health”, and the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 3, whose aim is to ensure
healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, which
includes the strengthening of “the prevention and treatment of substance
abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol”.
4. The Assembly attaches importance to States’ preventing or
reducing addictive behaviours, thus eliminating their disastrous
physical, psychological and social consequences, which hinder children’s development
and well-being. Bearing in mind the child’s best interests, it proposes
setting up flexible, responsive measures taking account of trends
in addictive behaviours, based on a holistic approach to the situations
which children face. In this respect, it should be noted that although
addictive behaviours in children occur in all socio-economic settings,
it is clear nonetheless that children living in disadvantaged environments or
whose parents or close relatives use drugs are more prone to addictive
behaviours.
5. The Assembly would also like to point out that for prevention
and early treatment of addictive behaviours to be effective, measures
must be introduced which target young children, including the very
young, particularly when they are exposed to addictive behaviours
in their environment.
6. In the light of the current lack of responsiveness and the
inadequacy of policies to combat drugs and addictions in children,
the Assembly considers it necessary for States to step up research
on prevention and innovative prevention practices, both to combat
addictions which have been known for some time and in the light
of the addictive behaviours which have arisen in recent years.
7. Bearing in mind these considerations, the Assembly invites
the Council of Europe member States to set up tools which help to
prevent the use by children of the main substances, to develop comprehensive preventive
measures geared to various addictive behaviours and to set up long-term
responses to trends in addictive behaviours, in keeping with the
child’s best interests. Policies and action plans must include research, prevention,
risk reduction and treatment, and take stock of the actual experiences
of children in different age categories, including young children.
The Assembly insists on the protective approach of prevention policies aimed
at children, including age-appropriate information about addictive
substances and their consequences, and tools designed to limit access
to them. In this connection, account should be taken of children’s
specific needs, with targeted action for certain more vulnerable
categories and taking into account the various types of addictive
behaviours.
8. In particular, the Assembly invites the Council of Europe
member States to:
8.1 devise measures
to strengthen the capacities of parents and families using drugs
and alcohol to manage their situations so as to prevent addictions
among the children of these families;
8.2 develop innovative prevention mechanisms involving children
and young adults in dialogue with their peers. It also suggests
devising training courses for young children and adolescents on
ways of resisting the negative influence of their classmates, adults,
the media or an environment that encourages the use of drugs or
alcohol;
8.3 train adults working with children, particularly in schools,
sport environments and medical contexts, to detect addictive behaviours
in children and to report them so that they can be dealt with or deal
with them directly;
8.4 reinforce the ban on the supply or sale of drugs and alcohol
to children, including through systematic and proportionate penalties
for suppliers and dealers;
8.5 set up reception spaces for children which are easily
accessible and offer a comprehensive approach to the management
of problems they must face, including psychological and social support designed
to enhance their ability to manage difficult personal or external
circumstances;
8.6 assess the problem of inhalant use and its impact on children’s
health;
8.7 combat synthetic drugs, targeting trafficking aimed at
children in particular.
9. The Assembly asks the member States to co-operate closely
with the digital industry with a view to:
9.1 prohibiting the online sale of psychoactive substances
and alcohol to children and child access to online gambling and
betting in the same way as in the real world;
9.2 prohibiting any form of online advertising of these substances
and offers of gambling and betting to children;
9.3 setting up online child-appropriate prevention campaigns
concerning online gambling and betting, and the excessive use of
digital devices.
10. The Assembly invites Council of Europe member States as well
as observer States and States whose parliaments enjoy observer or
partner for democracy status with the Assembly, which have not yet
done so, to join the enlarged partial agreement which established
the Council of Europe International Co-operation Group on Drugs
and Addictions (Pompidou Group).
