Implementing Evidence Based Prevention of Drug Use Globally: Achievements, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

The majority of drug prevention practice and policy making is not based on scientific evidence of what is effective, nor follows quality standards on delivery or evaluation. Many organisations, both governmental and non-governmental at the global, regional and national levels are implementing efforts to improve this situation, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This roundtable will present the efforts and the results of a variety of agencies and researchers (including Cooperation Programme on Drug Policies between Latin America and the European Union (COPOLAD), European Drug Prevention Quality Standards project II (EDPQS II), European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Mentor International, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC), and World Health Organization (WHO)) with a view to engendering a discussion about the opportunities and challenges ahead. The results of a variety of initiatives will be presented, including: training of policy makers and practitioners, international standards of effective interventions and policies and their dissemination, the promotion of quality standards, online tools supporting practitioners in developing quality programmes, promotion of evaluation of effectiveness, guidelines on prevention programmes and actions, and their dissemination. These recent initiatives are complementary, and provide a unique opportunity to increase the scale and reach of effective prevention. The session will foster discussion and provide insights on the best ways to capitalise on this momentum in order to improve global prevention practice.