New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) represent a large and increasing group of chemical compounds mainly of synthetic nature, characterized by pharmacological and toxicological properties particularly dangerous for consumers' health. As underlined in the last European Drug Report (EMCDDA, 2018) NPS continues to challenge public health: "[the priority is] to identify and respond to the emergence of drugs that has been lacking elsewhere”. It is important to clearly identify the specific characteristics of the “market” where NPS are available and who this type of compound's target groups (consumers) are. At a European level, it is estimated that about 5% of young Europeans aged between 15 and 24 years have already consumed, at least, one of these new drugs (Flash Eurobarometer, 2011). 

The ESPAD Report (2015) identified, for example, a growing number (3-4%) of 15-to 16-year-old school students in 24 European countries who frequently use NPS.
The majority of the “new consumers” of NPS come from the 15-16 years old age group, the school can certainly represent a significant environment where knowledge can be improved and effective strategies can be developed to promote student’s agency, students’ reflexive capacity, and key competencies to tackle early school leaving and to tackle the abuse of the above-mentioned substances.

The Innovative Teaching and Learning Paths for the Prevention of New Drug Abuse (INES) project aims to create conditions to support the collaborative networking of teachers, external experts, and students to find, test, adapt, and use (within common teaching workflows) didactic strategies and resources to tackle the NPS problem. The project started in December 2021 and will end in November 2024.

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