Drug Abuse Prevention Strategies

Over the past three decades, several approaches to preventing alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse in young people have been developed and implemented. Most of these prevention approaches take the form of programs designed to be implemented in middle or junior high schools because schools offer access to youth during the period of time when they typically initiate substance use. Traditionally, these programs have involved the dissemination of information about substance use and the negative health, social, and legal consequences of use and abuse. Despite the fact that simply providing students with factual information about drugs is ineffective in changing behavior, it remains the most commonly used approach to prevention. However, information dissemination approaches are slowly being replaced by more effective strategies that focus less ...