School is one of the key environments to discuss with young people the impact of substance use, and deliver evidenced prevention interventions .

It is vital that the messages that are passed on to young people are appropriate and delivered in a meaningful way.

"Your Drug Prevention Program Probably Isn't Working" describes the approaches, namely shock tactics and zero tolerance approaches, that have been shown too simplistic, ineffective and at times harmful.

Instead they propose the following strategies: 

• Build “developmental assets” and student strengths/skills that are incompatible...

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study is an ongoing longitudinal study funded by the U.S. National Institute on Health. This link provides updates on the study as it learns about how the brain transitions from childhood to adulthood and will learn about the impact of alcohol and drug use on the brain as well as determine whether there are precursors in brain structure and function that can predict alcohol and drug use problems.

30 policymakers from the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs, the National Narcotics Board (BNN), the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the Ministry of Interior, and other entities participated in a three-day workshop on creating humane, effective and evidence-based drug use prevention and drug dependence treatment and care services.

This training, being held from 14 – 16 October 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia was organized by UNODC Headquarters together with the UNODC Programme Office in Indonesia (POIDN), the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs and with the generous...

GISA Organises National Training of Trainers on UPC School Based Track in Nigeria

Between July 9 and 18th 2019, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA) in collaboration with the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), United States organized national training of trainers on the School Based Track of the Universal Prevention Curriculum in Lagos State, Nigeria. The training commenced with an opening ceremony witnessed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education who was represented by the Director, Basic...

This week the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has released the European Prevention Curriculum - a handbook designed for decision, opinion and policy makers in science-based prevention of substance use. The aim of the EUPC initiative is to implement a standardised prevention training curriculum in Europe and improve the overall effectiveness of prevention.

Adapted from the Universal Prevention Curriculum by the EU-funded UPC-Adapt group, the handbook is based on the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention and the European Drug Prevention Quality...

The European Drug Prevention Quality Standards have been established to provide a comprehensive set of criteria to help users learn how to recognise 'high quality' prevention activities, outline the necessary structurally and procedural aspects of high-quality prevention, and support strategies to develop implement, and review effective evidence-based practice.

The EDPQS Toolkits have been tailored to meet the needs of different groups of professionals working within the prevention field.

EDPQS Toolkit 1: Funding and Decision Making

EDPQS Toolkit 2: Self-Assessment & Reflection

EDPQS...