[The effects of preventative interventions targeting the use of stimulants]

Numerous prevention programs aimed at reducing the use of stimulants (tobacco, alcohol, drugs) have been developed and examined during the past few decades. Most research has been conducted into school-based prevention programs. School-based prevention programs have been found to reduce the use of drugs to a certain extent, provided they use interactive methods where the focus is not on didactic presentations but on peer discussions, role-playing, and interaction between students. Promising interventions, but which have as yet been insufficiently researched for broad-scale dissemination, include family-based programs (courses for parents of adolescents), mass media campaigns and community interventions in which a combined package of interventions is organised within a specific region or town.