Euro-Med Movement

The consumption of dangerous drugs, cigarettes and alcohol is on the increase within certain sections of the population.

Drug addicts and alcoholics are not only doomed to self-destruction, but they also constitute nuisance - and even threats - to the people around them. They are gradually expelled from the cycle of employment, and are liable to degenerate into crime. Therefore, it is important to martial all existing methods for the prevention and treatment of drug or alcohol addiction. Prevention is both an important social goal and an economic investment, as treatment and rehabilitation after the fact are much more difficult and expensive.

The war against drugs and alcohol is a combined war waged by the education, police and welfare systems, and cooperation should be intensified among the various authorities in accordance with the programs that have been offered over recent years.

Smoking causes hundred of fatalities a year in the Mediterranean region much more than the number of fatalities resulting from road accidents.

Smoking can become a serious addiction in all age groups, and the consequences are expressed in high health care expenses. The damage to the economy is enormous.

Due to those reasons the EMM is committed to:

· Ban smoking in public places by legislation.
· Enforce the laws that ban smoking in the workplace.
· Enact legislation to prevent cigarette companies from adding addictive ingredients to their products.
· Protect young people from deceptive advertising that encourage them to smoke.
· Form a wide front from different parties to fight the influence of the wealthy cigarette companies.