The effects of preventative interventions targeting the use of stimulants

Numerous prevention programs aimed at reducing the use of stimulants (tobacco, alcohol, drugs) have been developed and examined during the past few decades. Most research has been conducted into school-based prevention programs. School-based prevention programs have been found to reduce the use of drugs to a certain extent, provided they use interactive methods where the focus is not on didactic presentations but on peer discussions, role-playing, and interaction between students. Promising interventions, but which have as yet been insufficiently researched for broad-scale dissemination, include family-based programs (courses for parents of adolescents), mass media campaigns and community interventions in which a combined package of interventions is organised within a specific region or town.