The Crime Solutions platform has identified six types of interventions which focus on the prevention and/or treatment and reduction of alcohol or drug abuse among adolescents and young adults, and which have been the subject of at least one systematic review and/or meta-analysis.
According to the findings of two systematic reviews with meta-analyses, brief interventions aimed at reducing substance abuse among adolescents and young people (both focused and non-focused) are effective to significantly reduce levels of multiple substance abuse (including alcohol, cannabis, and hard drugs) [1] [2]. Brief interventions have also been shown to be effective to reduce heavy drinking among college students [3].
Brief electronic interventions were the subject of a meta-analysis (with 15 individual studies) that found evidence of a positive – albeit modest – impact of these programs in terms of reducing alcohol consumption in the short term. However, six months after the intervention, these effects dissipate, and there is no longer any statistically significant impact on alcohol consumption. In addition, the few studies that have analyzed cannabis consumption have not found any statistically significant effects [4].
Brief interventions carried out in the school environment are classified as effective to reduce alcohol consumption by young people who have taken part in these programs [5], but there is no evidence that these interventions have a statistically significant impact on the frequency of cannabis use [6]. On the other hand, preventive programs that work with interactive components have been shown to be effective in reducing cannabis use among high school students, according to the findings of a systematic review [7].
In addition to the practices mapped by Crime Solutions, three other relevant systematic reviews were found. The first of these found mixed evidence of the effectiveness of community interventions to prevent drug use. According to the findings of this review, these interventions generate a slight increase in use in the short term (especially of inhaled drugs) and slight reductions in tobacco and alcohol consumption in the medium term. This review found evidence that the results of the interventions are mediated by two risk factors that have been shown to be particularly relevant: peer drug use and the perceived availability of drugs [8]. The other two meta-analyses covered studies focused on contingency management programs and suggest that the technique is effective to reduce drug use in adolescents (and adults) [9] [10].