Alcohol and drug prevention strategies

Alcohol and drug prevention is a key process that should be targeted specially at minors. Typically, the efforts are aimed at preventing the use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, since these three substances constitute what many people call "gateway drugs", which are drugs that may lead to the use of more powerful (and more damaging) ones, such as cocaine or heroin.

The factors that may initiate drug consumption in children can be separated into two types: environmental and internal. Some common environmental factors are media influence, peer-pressure, difficult school transitions and coping with parent's divorce or a parent's death. On the other hand, the most commonly found internal factors are related to low self-esteem and poor social skills. Every potential risk factor that may lead to a youth's involvement with drugs must be discerned early in the process of drug prevention, in order to halt these risks as effectively as possible.

One of the most effective and useful tools are Prevention Programs. The main goal of these programs is to build protective factors and strengthen the ones that existed in the first place, and also to reduce any potential risk factors that could trigger substance abuse. Prevention programs can be planned and executed at three levels: home, school and community. At the home level, parents should enforce consistent rules and discipline, monitor their children's activities, screen their friends carefully, and try to empathise with their concerns.

School level prevention programs focus on developing drug-refusal skills, improve coping and enhance self-control. Ideally, school-based programs should be embedded within the school's academic program, since this strategy has yielded the best results in the past. Lastly, community-based programs communicate their message through work, school, church, and other institutions, including the government and the media. The benefits that are obtained through any of these programs outweigh the monetary costs in practically every scenario, since the investment for alcohol and drug prevention programs will always be lower than the monetary costs associated to fighting already established drug dependency and pursuing drug recovery.