PDF (Lessons learned in drug abuse prevention: a global review)

INTRODUCTION
in developing policies and practices. This report focuses on the prevention end of the
demand reduction spectrum.
This report will help policy makers become:
“This project was
undertaken by a team at
the Mentor Foundation
with support from the
UNDCP, and by various
professional technical
experts working in the
field of prevention.”
● more familiar with drug abuse prevention practices, given that many current efforts
concentrate mainly on supply control
● better informed about what is going on and what has been learned with regard to
drug abuse prevention within their own country or region
● better aware of how practice can inform the development of a cost- and practiceeffective
policy for prevention.
1.3.2 Practitioners
This report is also for those working in the field of drug abuse prevention, whether as
psychologists, clinicians, youth workers, social workers, teachers, sociologists, project
managers, drug educators, police, or simply people concerned with the health and
wellbeing of children and young people. Organisations focussed on the prevention of
drug abuse at a grass-roots level will also benefit, e.g. community-based organisations,
local Governments, health centres, orphanages, churches or any other social welfare
organisations. The report is also for those who are thinking of setting up an initiative
or project within their area, and who might want to base their project on the experiences
laid out within it.
● How will this report help practitioners?
This report will:
● Encourage practitioners all over the world who are separated geographically,
linguistically and culturally to be informed about, and to learn from, one another's work
● Avoid the unnecessary duplication of effort and the waste of money through repeating
mistakes already made by other projects
● Raise the profile of drug abuse, and the role of prevention programmes as possible
solutions and potential areas for further financial and human resource investment
● Promote the potential for lessons to be adapted to new environments and other
cultures
1.4 Work Process
This project was undertaken by a team at the Mentor Foundation with support from
the UNDCP, and by various professional technical experts working in the field of
prevention.
1.4.1 Overview of Drug Prevention Activity at a Global Level
The section ‘Drug Prevention Activities at a Global Level’ was written by the UNDCP
Demand Reduction Section, and is based on the information submitted by 109
Governments to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs for the Consolidated First Biennial
Report of the Executive Director on the Implementation of the Outcome of the
Twentieth Special Session of the General Assembly, Devoted to Countering the World
Drug Problem Together. The information, gathered through Biennial Reports
Questionnaires (BRQ), is intended to provide a global audit of the efforts of
Governments to implement the Action Plans and measures adopted by the UN General
Assembly at its twentieth special session in 1998. The information also serves as a
baseline on the progress achieved by Governments in meeting the time-bound goals
and targets set out in the Political Declaration (Box 1).
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