Drugs in Sweden: Methods of prevention

2008-12-02

This is a summary of a publication in Swedish

The main points in the summary:

• Drug problems should be seen in a systems perspective, where the most important driving forces behind the use of drugs are economic and physical availability, norms and attitudes and drug dependency.
• Important theories for drug prevention are presented.
• The epidemiological basis for the drug problem.
• Summaries of book chapters.

The aim of this book is to present an up-to-date scientific overview of the prevention literature in the field of drugs. The target group for the book is primarily decisionmakers and public servants on the local, regional and national level, but also preventive practitioners, for example alcohol and drug coordinators, health advisers, youth leaders, students and the mass media.

Prevention research in the field of alcohol and other drugs is still in its infancy. Many questions remain unanswered, both regarding the cause of the problems, as well as the measures which are effective in order to limit them. This is especially the case in the drug field, where few preventive efforts have been the object of scientific studies. This means that a great deal of the investments which are made in order to prevent drug problems, are carried out blindly without any real knowledge of the effects which can be expected.

A positive conclusion of the research literature is, however, that some programmes to prevent problems related alcohol and other drugs do work. These positive reports come mainly from the alcohol and tobacco fields. It seems reasonable to believe that the basic principles of these initiatives also apply to the drug field. In certain cases, however it is apparent that the drug problem is of a different nature, largely because all non-medical dealing with drugs is illegal in Sweden. In the field there is now a growing science which can inform us about which components are the most important in successful programmes. In this book these are described by a group of leading prevention researchers in Sweden.