Reducing the risk factors and enhancing the protective factors associated with initiating substance use.
Prevention
Evaluating Communities That Care (CTC)
‘Community coalitions’ is a preventative strategy that coordinates activities and resources to reduce adolescent substance use and delinquent behaviour, mobilising communities in the promotion of health and prevention initiatives...
Preventing and Treating Tobacco Use among Canadian Youth
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has issued a new evidence-based guideline for combatting tobacco use by children and young adults aged 5 – 18, suggesting that physicians ought to have a more active role in the prevention...
Can Drug Prevention Programmes Reduce Substance Use by Participants’ Friends?
Besides reducing substance use between its participants one prevention programme also reduced drug use among the friends of those who took part.
Great Resources for Teachers
Are you a teacher? Are you looking for materials or lesson plans on the effects of drugs and drug abuse? The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has created a great database of more than 70 teacher materials on the effects of drugs and...
Drug Misuse Prevention: Targeted Interventions
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has released guidelines that cover targeted interventions to prevent misuse of drugs, including illegal drugs, ‘legal highs’ and prescription-only medicines. It aims to prevent or...
Drugs on the Brain: Neurological Scans Predict Future Substance Use
A new study published in the journal Nature has found that brain scans can predict whether or not teenagers will develop drug taking behaviours later in life. A sample of 14-year-olds was assessed. The investigation reports that, from an...
Sleep and Substance Use: What’s the Link?
A new study reports a link between daytime tiredness and alcohol consumption, together with its related harms, in the future.
Counselling Parents and Teens about Marijuana Use in the Era of Legalisation of Marijuana
Abstract Many states have recently made significant changes to their legislation making recreational and/or medical marijuana use by adults legal. Although these laws, for the most part, have not targeted the adolescent population, they...
Better Working Memory, Less Temptation: Substance Abuse and Neuro-Mechanisms
New research published in the journal Addiction suggests that poor working memory and the inability to control impulses during adolescence are key predictors for future substance abuse. ‘Working memory’ refers to one’s capacity to...