Prevention Strategies

"Environmental prevention strategies are designed to change the cultural, social, physical and economic environments in which people make their choices about drug use. These strategies typically include measures such as alcohol pricing, and bans on tobacco advertising and smoking where there is good evidence of effectiveness. Other environmental strategies focus on developing protective school environments. Among the examples reported by European countries are: promotion of a positive and supportive learning climate (Poland, Finland); provision of education in citizenship norms and values (France); and making schools safer through the presence of police in the neighbourhood (Portugal).
"It has been argued that a range of social problems, including substance use, teenage pregnancy and violence, are more prevalent in countries with high levels of social and health inequality (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010). Many Scandinavian countries, such as Finland, invest heavily in broader environmental policies that are geared towards increasing social inclusion at family, school, community and society level and which contribute to, and help maintain, lower levels of drug use. Prevention programmes and interventions targeting specific problems or drugs are less used in these countries."