Substance Use Prevention Strategies in the United States

Background

The National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, celebrated March 17 – 23, 2025, is an annual event focused on drug use, addiction, and prevention to help educate and empower people to make informed decisions about substance use.¹Several associations in the United States create programs to help prevent substance use from occurring or progressing. In this blog, we will summarize the major substance use prevention programs that are available in the United States.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)²

NIDA is part of the National Institute of Health in the United States. NIDA supports research to develop effective and sustainable strategies to prevent substance use or misuse. Evidence-based research and corresponding prevention strategies can have long-term, cost saving benefits to public health. Prevention programs aim to:

Help people avoid or delay the onset of drug use
Reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors
Stop substance use from progressing into higher-risk substance use

Prevention programs are categorized as Universal, Selected, or Indicated. Universal programs use broad approaches for the public, or for everyone in a certain setting. Selected programs are for individuals or groups with a known risk factor for substance use disorders. Indicated programs are for individuals with behaviors that indicate they may be a risk for substance use disorders.

Prevention programs are typically designed to meet the needs at certain stages of life and in specific settings. Here are a few examples:

Family-based Substance Use Prevention Programs

Family-based programs help parents and other caregivers access resources associated with better outcomes in children. Parenting classes teach caregivers about early child development and how to build a warm, supportive relationship with children.

School-based Substance Use Prevention Programs

School-based programs help students develop social, emotional, cognitive, and substance-refusal skills by providing accurate information on drug use. These programs can be directed to at-risk youth through mentorship associations or in school or after-school activities.

Community-based Substance Use Prevention Programs

Community-based programs engage with community organizations to identify local level risk factors for drug use and facilitate ways to lessen their impact.

Population-specific Substance Use Prevention Programs

Population-specific programs help groups of people with shared circumstances to overcome substance use. An example would be programs for young people experiencing homelessness.

Healthcare-based Substance Use Prevention Programs

Health-care programs help clinicians determine if patients may be at risk for substance use disorders and connecting those patients to services that will help them to resist using drugs.

Workplace-based Substance Use Prevention Programs

Workplace programs offer employees classes or intervention strategies to help with substance use.

Justice System based Substance Use Prevention Programs

Justice programs such as drug courts provide an intense program to help people rehabilitate rather than being sent to jail.

NIDA funds research to understand how to reduce risk factors and bolster protective factors. The outcome of this research is translated into evidence-based programs in addition to determining how best to implement and scale these programs. This research adapts to address evolving situations like the current drug overdose crisis; equitable access to health care; and social and structural influences on health. NIDA research also aims to promote and to capitalize on advances in basic and behavioral sciences, data science, and technology. NIDA also supports research to examine the social and economic impact of certain laws and policies in preventing substance use and its negative health effects. Together, this research helps policymakers and public health professionals make informed decisions to promote better health outcomes around substance use.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)³

SAMHSA envisions a future where individuals, families, and communities are healthy and thriving through using prevention science, communication, collaboration, and program investments.

Prevention activities strive to educate and support individuals and communities to prevent the use and misuse of drugs and their development into substance use disorders. SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) aims to develop comprehensive systems through providing national leadership in the development of policies, programs, and services to prevent the onset of substance misuse.

SAMHSA’S Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center works to provide communities, clinicians, policymakers, and others in the field with the information they need to incorporate evidence-based practices in their communities for prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

SAMHSA’s prevention and early intervention efforts promote evidence-based decision-making. Some of SAMHSA’s prevention campaigns and initiatives include:

Talk, They Hear You Campaign focused on youth under the age of 21
STOP Underage Drinking
National Prevention Week held in May
Communities Talk to Prevent Alcohol and Other Drug Misuse is a nationwide initiative providing support to community-based organizations

United States Department of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)⁴^,⁵

The DEA offers many guides to help prevent substance use. Growing Up Drug Free: A Parent’s Guide to Substance Use Prevention offers information that can help you raise children who understand the risks of substance use. The guide includes an overview of substance use among children, youth, and young adults; descriptions of some substances young people may use; a look at risk factors that may make children, youth, and young adults try alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, and protective factors that help offset those risks; suggestions for how to talk to young people about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, tailored to their age group; and tips on what to do if you suspect your child is using alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.

Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students focuses on preventing and reducing drug use among college students, but these efforts remain few and far between. This new guide is intended to bridge that gap, by providing a roadmap for college- and university-based prevention professionals to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders, from students to administrators, to address campus-wide drug misuse issues.

Discussion

There are many resources available to help citizens of all ages avoid or overcome drug use and substance use disorders. A few of the agencies that create or offer prevention programs have been highlighted in this blog, but there are many programs available online or in the community to address prevention.

DTPM Solutions

DTPM’s mission is to help fight drug use and dependency. We offer drug testing solutions to a variety of testing facilities such as drug courts, treatment centers, physician office labs, reference labs and more. Our screening solutions provide flexibility to a testing site by offering simple point-of-care (POC) test cups or more specific instrumented drug immunoassays. General testing supplies such as gloves, lint-free wipes and pipette tips are also available.