Youth substance use prevention interventions: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The United Nations estimates that 1 in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one illicit drug in 2014, this number does not include tobacco and alcohol (UNODC, 2016). During the same year, more than 22 million Americans aged 12 and older self-reported needing treatment for alcohol or illicit drug use (SAMHA, 2016). Annually, drug abuse and addiction cost the USA society more than 200 billion US dollars in the healthcare, criminal justice, and legal systems, and in lost workplace production/participation (Office on National Drug Control Policy, 2011). The rippling social and health effects of abusing alcohol and other drugs not only negatively impact the individual users but their families, communities and society at large.