ESPAD, the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, is a collaborative research initiative involving independent research teams in more than 40 European countries. It is the world’s largest cross-national research project focused on adolescent substance use. Its central purpose is to collect comparable information from students aged 15–16 and monitor patterns and changes within and across participating countries.

Rather than offering commercial products, ESPAD provides research findings and public data resources to support understanding of youth behaviours. Its website brings together survey reports, documents, references and literature, databases, and an interactive data platform. The platform offers access to historical survey results, including data collected between 1995 and 2019, and is updated as new findings become available. ESPAD also shares news and information about survey methods, report releases, and project developments. Through repeated data collection and accessible research tools, the initiative supports comparative study of adolescent substance use across Europe and makes evidence available to researchers, policymakers, and other interested audiences.