[Drug prevention in Lower Saxony: stakeholders perspectives on performance and potential]

Addiction is associated with health-related and social risks. The interministerial harmonized Lower Saxon concept on drug prevention was most recently revised in 2008 and is predominantly implemented by drug counselling services, drug prevention specialists, the police, self-help groups, corporate addiction prevention, child welfare, and local prevention committees.

The study aimed at providing the necessary information for an intended enhancement of the Lower Saxon concept on drug prevention.

Descriptive analysis of the ratings of a sample of 459 stakeholders involved in preventive activities who completed an online questionnaire on the current performance of Lower Saxon drug prevention.

Moderate levels of success have been rated in terms of the achievement of selected preventive goals as well as certain quality standards. An additional need for drug prevention was described for several target groups, including children living in families with a drug-addicted family member, youth aged between 13 and 17, refugees, children with poor educational background, people suffering from mental illness, trainees and university students, as well as the unemployed. In comparison to other institutions, German employment offices, job centers, and churches were nominated to a lesser extent as being responsible for executing drug prevention. Participants saw great potential in a more consistent implementation of current regulations on advertisement, access, and consumption as well as for additional situation-based-prevention. In addition, stakeholders felt restricted in their preventive work due to financial constraints and a lack of recourse in terms of evaluation and documentation. Disregarding their various institutional backgrounds participants had a common agreement when evaluating the questions. Differences led back to their deferring public service obligations.