30 years of prevention

“Our goal is always to prevent suffering”

Addiction prevention has existed in Upper Austria for 30 years. A battle against windmills: The challenges are constantly changing and those affected are getting younger and younger.

Alcohol, nicotine, heroin, cocaine, chocolate, food, cell phones, porn - the list of addictions is almost limitless. But to prevent it from getting that far in the first place, the Institute for Addiction Prevention at pro mente Oberösterreich has set itself the goal of helping people - and has been doing so for 30 years now. "Our goal is always to prevent suffering," says Kurosch Yazdi-Zorn, Chairman of the Board of pro mente and addiction expert at KUK. To achieve this, they rely on cooperation with schools, the police and health institutions. 

You can see that addicts are getting younger and younger. In the area of the internet and games, of course, but also in cannabis use. Prevention can help children remain mentally stable.

Kurosch Yazdi-Zorn, Vorstandsvorsitzender pro mente und Suchtexperte.

"Investment in the future"
"Prevention is not an optional extra for good times, but an investment in the future," says the head of the institute, Rainer Schmidbauer. And this investment can also be expressed in figures, as every euro invested would generate seven to thirty times the re-investment. How does that work? "Healthcare costs are exploding, prevention can help save money," says Yazdi-Zorn. There are also costs for prison stays, rehabilitation and the like.

More and more addiction traps
One thing is also certain: prevention work will not be boring. Because there are more addiction traps and the challenges are constantly changing. "You can see that with cell phone use and internet games," says Health Minister Christine Haberlander. As a result, more and more young people have addiction problems - with cell phones, games and currently also very strongly with cannabis. So it's no wonder that addiction prevention now starts with expectant parents and continues into old age. The aim is always to ensure that people are mentally stable, as this would help to prevent addiction.