Throughout the school year, 38 junior and senior secondary school students have been hosted each month in 9 neuroscience laboratories specialising in addiction studies. The aim: to change the views of the young “Novice Researchers” on the hidden face of drugs (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, etc.) and addiction, and to educate them about research methods and research careers. From 1 June next, the Novice Researchers will present their research at 5 conferences organised in Marseille (1 June), Amiens (2 June), Paris (3 June), Bordeaux (4 June) and Poitiers (9 June).

The MAAD (Mechanisms of Addiction to Alcohol and Drugs) programme, launched by Inserm with the support of MILDECA (French Government Interministerial Mission for Combating Drugs and Addictive Behaviours), is based on a “scientific education” style approach, intended to increase the knowledge of young people on these substances by introducing them to the scientific method.

Nine research laboratories[1] specialising in addiction physiopathology hosted, on one Wednesday each month, two “binomes,” pairs comprising one final year junior secondary school student and one second year senior secondary school student. Mentored by a senior researcher, the adolescents conducted a research project, performed experiments and interpreted data.
The conferences organised in the different research centres involved will enable these young Novice Researchers to share their results. The audience will be made up of their classmates, parents, teachers, etc.

The use of psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis etc.) by young people is a constant preoccupation for the health authorities, since it is well known that early use, while the brain is still developing, is a risk factor for developing dependence during adulthood. This scheme for raising awareness about the toxicity of drugs is an attempt at innovation against a background of more traditional preventive actions (radio spots, video clips, television, newspapers and mini-conferences in schools).

[1] The 9 participating laboratories are as follows: Amiens: Inserm ERI 24, Prof. Mickaël Naassila; Bordeaux: Inserm U862 Neurosciences Magendie, Véronique Deroche; CNRS UMR 5287, Martine Cador / Stéphanie Caillé-Garnier; Marseille: Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology (INMED), Olivier Manzoni; UMR 7289 CNRS Cognitive Neurobiology Laboratory, Christelle Baunez; Paris: Inserm UMR 894, Laurence Lanfumey, Nicolas Ramoz; Inserm UMR-S 839 Institut du Fer à Moulin, Denis Hervé, Marika Nosten-Bertrand, Manuel Mameli; CNRS UMR 7102, Philippe Faure; Poitiers: Inserm U1084 Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences Laboratory, Marcello Solinas.