Summary - Department of Health and Ageing

This final chapter presents recommendations for policy and future investment to prevent
drug use, risky use and harm, based on an overview and comprehensive, critical review of
the evidence.
Firstly, the authors propose adoption of a Protection and Risk Reduction approach to
prevention. This would provide a policy framework that:
integrates knowledge of developmental processes throughout the life-course with
knowledge of broader social influences on behaviour and health outcomes;
emphasises the importance of reducing the known developmental risk factors that lead
children and young people to become involved with risky drug use and harm while
also enhancing protective factors;
acknowledges the importance of targeted early intervention strategies focused on
strengthening protective factors for children and young people with a high number of
developmental risk factors;
emphasises the use of brief interventions, treatment and harm reduction strategies to
reduce drug-related harm for drug users who have a high number of risk factors,
while also improving developmental opportunities for children; and
includes law enforcement as an essential element, not just for controlling the supply of
drugs but also in influencing community values about drug use, diverting early
offenders and acting to protect the community from crime and social disorder.
Secondly, the authors suggest that the Protection and Risk Reduction approach be
implemented through a systems approach (see Figure 1, page 5) that acknowledges:
the many levels of society at which there are influences on patterns of drug use and
harm;
the many levels at which interventions may be delivered; and
the importance of consistency across levels and sub-systems to ensure a common
understanding of influences and interventions.
Within this model, intervention at the local community level is of fundamental
importance. The local community is thus one of the primary levels at which planning
needs to be integrated and coordinated. The local community offers:
the potential for action to address some of the broad social determinants related to
both social disadvantage and disconnection that underlie aspects of drug-related harm;
and
a promising arena for the coordinated implementation of evidence-based prevention
strategies.