FDFE has been formed in March 2004 with the firm purpose to unite and coordinate the efforts of members of civil society involved in the fight against drugs in Europe.

On 31 October 2007, the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe has been selected by the European Commission as a member of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs in the European Union which will start its works on December 13 – 14, 2007.

The 26 organizations selected out of a total of 75 applicants, are most closely on line with the criteria set out in the Green Paper on the Role of Civil Society in EU drugs policy and the report resulting from the open consultation of the European Commission.

ADVISORY BOARD

FDFE thanks its many supporters throughout Europe who are advancing the creation of a drug-free society in so many ways - organisationally, financially, locally, nationally, promotionally and otherwise.
In addition, there are a number of committed and informed individuals who act as an external advisory board to keep the FDFE regularly up-dated on trends in drug prevention, rehabilitation and both national and international policy-making activities across Europe. Here are some of them:

Joaquin Antuña
Founder of the International NGO “Peace and Co-operation”. Mr Antuña has performed various tasks in the United Nations whilst continuously practicing his socially uplifting activities.

“In a moment of global challenges, we need global answers and we need global institutions. We need a big institution against drugs. This Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe will be an important contribution to the fight against drugs and public awareness. I will do all my best for this Foundation, for this global answer.”

Miguel Cid Cebrián
Attorney and author. Director of the Spanish Government Cabinet for the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD) until 1996.

“The Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe is a breath of fresh air in the polluted current society. The project that this Foundation will generate will greatly contribute to governmental efforts to eradicate the drug problem in society.”

Kenneth E. Eckersley
Former U.K. Magistrate & Retired Justice of the Peace. Author, conference lecturer, broadcaster and trainer.
C.E.O. of CEPTA (Campaign for Effective Prevention & Treatment of Addiction) and Founder of ARTS (Addiction Recovery Training Services).

“The Foundation does not deal in ideologies – it is only interested in results! Proper drug prevention training does work, and comfortable lifelong abstinence can in a majority of cases be achieved. Whilst civil society must support all levels of government in the fight against drugs, government must take an exclusively result based approach in
their evaluation and support of antidrug initiatives.”

David Raynes
Executive Councillor, UK National Drug Prevention Alliance.
A former Assistant Chief Investigation officer H.M Customs & Excise National Investigation Service, he has also served in the UK Cabinet Office and the Northern Ireland Office.

“It is very important that the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe can support the effort in tackling drugs across Europe, perhaps taking the focus away from enforcement, where historically it is been, and placing it much more in primary prevention, stopping people from using drugs in the first place.”

Peter Stoker
Director of the U.K. “National Drug Prevention Alliance”.

“There is an absolute need for someone to speak and act and say there is a ‘better way’. The Foundation has accepted this challenge and represents an exciting potential: a potential which absolutely must be realized.”

Agnés Bron-Singla
Coordinator, Non à la Drogue – Oui à la Vie. French organization focused on drug education and drug prevention, supported by the Church of Scientology. Ms. Bron-Singla has been a speaker in many drug conferences.

“With more than 15 years of experience in drug prevention, I know that something can be done. I count on FDFE to create a larger European network, working together for an even more effective primary prevention. It is absolutely possible.”

Xavier Deluc
French actor and campaigning celebrity in the anti-drug field.

Roby Facchinetti
Artist and leader of legendary Italian pop-group: “Pooh”.

Beppe Fossati
Editor of Torino Cronaca, the respected daily newspaper published in Turin. Mr. Ferrari has taken different anti-drug initiatives including free distribution within his newspaper of copies of drug information booklets to keep his readers up-to-date on matters directly affecting them and their children.

Åsa Graaf
Founder and chairman of Riksorganisationen fvr ett Drogfritt Sverige (Drug-free Sweden). A long time drug prevention activist, Ms Graf has herself directly educated over 500,000 children and adults through her successful publications, exhibitions and events in Sweden and abroad.

Dr. Virginio Maino
Medical Doctor, Milano.

Michael Nielsen
Drug Education Consultant. Mr. Nielsen has delivered over 3,000 drug education lectures to children and adults over the last ten years, not only in his home country, but also in Russia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries.

Elena Roggero
Singer and Italian spokesperson of the drug prevention campaign “Dico No alla Droga”.

Emanuele Ruffinengo
Composer and producer. 3 Grammy Awards winner.

Mission Statement

The “Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe” has been formed in March 2004 with the firm purpose of preventing and stopping debilitating drug use by educating non-users concerning the harmful effects that drugs can inflict upon the body, mind and personality, and by finding and directing existing users to programmes which can help them achieve comfortable abstinence for life.

To achieve the goal of a drug-free Europe, the Foundation collaborates with local, national and international institutions as well as effective rehabilitation programmes which also use drug-free methods and carry out positive prevention education campaigns. We know from experience that joining forces with like-minded groups and developing positive open co-operation and solidarity with others makes the difference.

The Foundation aims:

to work within democratic, open and transparent procedures of communication, decision making and accountability in order to find and execute solution to the drug problem and help create drug free European societies;

to monitor the development and implementation of European legislation, as well national legislation, and to debate and talk about it, in public lectures, in writing or to the public opinion through mass media;

to create and put into action drug prevention projects and campaign, that could be presented to governments and Institutions to find support for it;

to elaborate cycles of conferences, round tables or other public debates, focused around the different aspects of the drug abuse in Europe;

to collaborate with like-minded group and organizations, sharing the same purpose, in the different projects or campaign the Foundation will conduct;

to pursue with any other legal mean the creation of a drug-free Europe; this is a culture in Europe that widely refuses the use of drugs or the promotion of it, and fully recognize the danger that drug abuse carries for the people and for society at large.

Experience has taught us that people in general, and youth in particular, when they understand the negative effects produced by all drugs, and the specific effects of each of them when explained by those who have “been there”, inevitably come to the conclusion: “NO. I don’t want to take drugs” – which is of course the ultimate purpose of the Foundation.