Preventing Drug Abuse Among Youth: An Overview of Community-, Family-, and School-Based Programs

• NCJ Number: 165583
• Date Published: June 1997
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Series: OJJDP Teleconference Videotapes
• Grant Number(s): 95-JN-MU-0001
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Conference Material

Annotation

This videotape presents a satellite teleconference sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and focusing on risk factors for juvenile drug use and promising strategies for preventing it.

Abstract

The teleconference presents the views of youths, school personnel, prevention specialists, researchers, the administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and others. An overview notes that every family is vulnerable to drug abuse and that substance abuse among youth begins around ages 12 or 13 and typically follows a progressive path from the use of alcohol and tobacco to the use of marijuana and eventually to experimentation or regular use of other drugs. The risk factors for juvenile drug use have been identified. Promising strategies and programs to prevent juvenile drug use can be grouped into three areas: life skills training, programs to strengthen families, and community efforts against drugs.