Parents and others who deal with children and young people every day must be put in a position to assess the situation realistically. In this context, it should be clear to everyone that addictive behaviour cannot be prevented simply by ensuring that children and young people do not come into contact with hard drugs.
It is the task of the Federal Centre for Health Education (FCHE) to inform people about drugs and drug abuse and, in this way, to achieve an addiction-preventing effect.
The FCHE has set itself the task of making people aware of the situations that can lead to the development of addiction and of supporting the conditions that contribute to a life of fulfilment, free of addictive substances.
Addiction is a constantly increasing, obsessive desire for certain substances that temporarily alleviate dysfunctional emotions or trigger other "positive" feelings. In the public discussion, addiction is often used to denote the use of illegal drugs only. Other addictive substances, such as alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals, can damage an addict just as seriously.
