INTRODUCTION, continued

This Best Practices focuses on environmental prevention strategies. It is intended to help prevention professionals, community leaders, and parents who are committed to implementing comprehensive approaches to the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug problems. The guide will provide the reader with information about specific environmental strategies, citing research on evidence of effectiveness and noting where these strategies remain “promising approaches” in light of limited research. The Best Practices also offers guidance on how to implement environmental strategies and encourages the conduct of evaluation to document the effectiveness of efforts.

The guide begins with a brief discussion about the general nature of the environmental prevention approach, noting the level of research support for strategies oriented toward alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use. This discussion also draws attention to the relationship between environmental substance abuse prevention strategies and crime prevention. The guide then presents a conceptual framework for understanding the different types of environmental prevention strategies and highlights the roles of enforcement and deterrence in relationship to environmental strategies. Also provided is general guidance on how to organize communities to implement environmental strategies. In the three chapters that follow, specific environmental strategies designed to prevent youth alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use are presented, along with case study examples of how these strategies have been implemented successfully.¹ The guide concludes with a summary and recommendations.

¹ A comprehensive review of all environmental strategies was beyond the scope and intent of this brief guide. However, the reader is referred to the reference section and other resources at the end of the guide for more information.

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