The EMCDDA and the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) will be working together more closely in future thanks to a cooperation framework recently agreed by the two bodies.
The cooperation framework, established through a formal exchange of letters at the end of 2007 between the EMCDDA Director and the ESPAD Coordinator, sets out an eight-point list of areas for collaboration.
Included in the list are:
- integration of the ESPAD approach into the broader data-collection system at EU level;
- encouragement of countries’ participation in ESPAD surveys; and
- analytical exploitation of ESPAD data, by placing them in the context of EMCDDA data and through
contact between ESPAD experts and those working with the EMCDDA.
Cooperation has existed on an ad hoc basis between the EMCDDA and ESPAD since the mid-1990s and ESPAD data have been regularly included in the EMCDDA’s annual reporting on the drug situation in Europe. These data have provided crucial information on substance use among 15–16 year-old students, allowing trends over time to be assessed.
In the exchange of letters, the EMCDDA and ESPAD agree that it is in their mutual interest to:
- facilitate the exchange of information and expertise;
- improve the availability, quality and comparability of school survey data; and
- gain maximum analytical insight from data available in this area.
The new agreement enables the organisations to carry out joint projects in line with priorities set out in their respective work programmes.
