ARGO intervention programme: cannabis and alcohol high on the list of teenagers' preferences

Cannabis and alcohol are the substances of choice for teenagers, starting their use on average by the age of 14.

The above data are derived from the presentation of the intervention program for adolescents and young people with problematic use of legal and illegal substances and addictive behaviors implemented by the Alternative Treatment Program ARGO and will be presented today at the conference «Tracing New Services in the Field of Addiction», organized by ARGO at KEDEA (red building AUTH).

As Olga Kechagia, a member of the therapeutic team of the programme, stressed to RES-MPA, the intervention programme is attended by young people with an average age of 17.5 years and an average age of 14 years of onset of substance use. «The beneficiary adolescents in the programme that started in July 2021 were 14 for that year, 59 for 2022 and so far this year, the number of beneficiaries is 37,» she explained, noting that the need for counselling from parents is increasing.

The project is funded by the Operational Programme «Central Macedonia 2014 - 2020», Priority Axis «Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty - ESF» and co-financed by the European Social Fund. It is addressed to adolescents and young adults (12 - 21 years old) with problematic substance use or addictive behaviours and their families and includes, among others, individualised therapeutic intervention and counselling and psychosocial support for reducing and stopping the use of substances or addictive behaviours.

Large gap in new forms of dependence

«The intervention programme for adolescents and young people with problematic use of legal and illegal substances and addictive behaviours, in our opinion, came to fill a big gap that existed in the city's rehabilitation services regarding the adolescent and young population and new forms of addiction, closing a big chapter of a negative condition for the city of Thessaloniki. The city has developed a series of support and treatment proposals for adult addicts, but is unable to operate and offer services for adolescents and young people, except for the Adolescent Anadasi Program of KETHEA, which exists, operates and survives “through fire and iron”, said Stelios Giusepas, the scientific director of the ARGO PETHEA, in his presentation at the conference.

He commented that when such services are absent from public and officially recognised therapeutic institutions, «the gap in services created is filled by the ill-intentioned, problematic and illegal private initiative, the famous treatments, which flourish in the city of Thessaloniki and which after the adult population “opened” their doors to the teenage and young population “offering” dubious or even evil services and rehabilitation experiences».

The conference will also include a presentation of the Stiri-ZO employability support programme for addicted people. According to the psychologist, doctor of social clinical psychology of the Argo University of Thessaloniki, education and employment counsellor at the ARGO Program Irini Grigoriadou, the aim of STIRI-ZO is to stand by the side of the members of the ARGO Program and members of any other rehabilitation program in the region of Central Macedonia, throughout their rehabilitation journey. It is a social and psychological support service with an emphasis on education and employability of addicts and is funded by the Operational Programme «Central Macedonia 2014 - 2020».

Unaccompanied refugee minors who are drug users

Cannabis and pills - mainly a specific psychiatric-neurological drug - are particularly prevalent among unaccompanied refugee minors who live in shelter or precariousness and are drug users, according to data from the social non-governmental organisation ARSIS.

These data will be presented at the conference by Ioanna Simeonidou, psychologist and child protection streetworker of the ARSIS team, which has been active since 2017 with the support of UNHCR.

«From 2017 to 2021 we had mainly underage users from Morocco, Algeria and Afghanistan, who were moving in various areas of the centre of Thessaloniki and using cannabis and pills. From 2021 onwards, we have seen an increase in underage boys-users from Afghanistan and, in general, difficulty in staying in the protection structures due to their use», said Ms. Simeonidou. As for how they obtain the substances, Ms. Symeonidou said that some underage boys are being prostituted (sex working), although they hardly admit it to the streetworkers who approach them or do drug trafficking.

Changing the profile of the addict

For the scientific director of PETHEA ARGO, all proposals that integrate our addicted fellow human beings into the system of care, support and treatment are useful and necessary in a favourable state.

«We need to start discussing openly in Greece that the certainty of dealing with the issue of addiction based on harm reduction policies and the substitution approach is coming to an end and we are returning to a blurred and fluid era regarding rehabilitation services,» he stressed, explaining that the reasons are recyclable, in rehabilitation services, population of opiate addicts, the dramatic decrease in the percentage of opiate addicts in Europe, the increase in the percentage of addicts of other substances (cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines) for which there are no substitutes, the increase in the percentage of people with addictive behaviours such as gambling, internet, gaming and finally the dramatic change in the profile of the addict and finally the dramatic change in the profile of the addict.

«So we have, on the one hand, an ever-aging and recyclable population of opiate addicts in rehabilitation services and, on the other hand, a new generation of addicts of other new or non new substances and addictive behaviours, for whom the services we currently offer are - dare I say it - anachronistic, unattractive, inappropriate and possibly not beneficial», concluded Mr.

Natasha Karathanou