Information about alcohol and drugs, their effects, their use and abuse. This led us to our last chapter on drug abuse prevention.
Unfortunately, historically, neither the efforts of professionals, nor directed funding could make the prohibition of drugs the main public task. The reasons for this are not determined, but there are two possible explanations. One is that the efforts to prevent abuse in the past have brought only modest results. The second explanation for this is that currently the abuse of various substances is particularly noticeable and finds a faster response in human and financial resources. Whether such an approach is short-sighted is a very controversial issue.

Although prevention has always received less attention than treatment, now is the time when the study and development of prevention is on the rise. Perhaps the most significant factor that caused this change is the association of the problem of drug addiction with the problem of AIDS. Intravenous drug users constitute the second largest group of people infected with HIV in the United States and Europe. In addition, the influence of drugs in some cases can provoke promiscuous sex, increasing the risk of contracting AIDS.
Most still agree that prevention should be an important component in the modern approach to solving the problem of abuse of various substances. The first step in this chapter is a review of definitions related to prevention. Then the main models of prevention and the associated difficulties are discussed. There will also be considered several examples of preventive programs and their results.