Universal Prevention Strategies

"Universal prevention addresses entire populations, predominantly in school and community settings. It aims to reduce substance-related risk behaviour by providing young people with the necessary competences to avoid or delay initiation into substance use. A recent evaluation of the ‘Unplugged’ prevention programme in the Czech Republic found that participating students reported significantly reduced rates of smoking, as well as less frequent smoking, drunkenness, cannabis use, and use of any drug (Gabrhelik et al., 2012). However, there have been recent reports of reductions in the provision of universal prevention in Greece and Spain, and in prevention staffing levels in Latvia, which supports earlier suggestions that prevention is an area affected by budgetary cuts in this period of economic downturn
(EMCDDA, 2011a)."