Commentary--Project Towards No Drug Abuse: an evidence-based drug abuse prevention program

Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) is a research-based program that has been examined over seven group-randomized controlled trials. In all trials, an effect has been found on hard drug use. An effect has been found on alcohol use in four trials, and on cigarettes and marijuana in two trials. (Arguably, an effect is found on marijuana in three trials.) Program effects on violence-related behavior were established in earlier trials, though such effects were not assessed in later trials. Certainly, as in most scientific studies, there are limitations in the interpretation of the effects obtained, particularly regarding cigarette and marijuana use and violence-related behavior, and more empirical work is needed. For Project TND, however, numerous trial replications have been completed, and the effects within each trial could not have been obtained by chance alone more than 10 % of the time (two-tailed). These results suggest that Project TND is indeed evidence-based. To be evidence-based means that evidence has accumulated to suggest that the program is likely to work, at least under conditions that are comparable to those in which it has been tested.