Preventing alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among youth: Recommendations for future prevention programs

What is lacking in the drug abuse prevention field to date is a synthesis of the recommendations for future prevention activity taken from the varied national and federal agencies, and recent drug prevention research literature. This paper reviewed the full range of recommendations regarding drug abuse prevention programs, and the degree to which the recommendations were consistent across the sources of recommendations. Recommendations most commonly cited within the research literature were, as one might expect, rather focused in terms of their emphasis on school and research issues. National and federal agency recommendations, on the other hand, tended to be broader in scope, more inclusive, and took a larger view of prevention extending beyond the school setting to include the community. This review found that 11 recommendations for improving drug prevention were consistently cited within both research reviews and national/federal agency reports. In addition, various recommendations were repeatedly cited within specific reviews of prevention research or national and federal documents. Based on the findings of this review, encompassing recommendations for future drug prevention efforts were provided, along with an illustration of an innovative prevention program which integrates many of the recommendations for future prevention programming.