Focus on Prevention: Strategies and Programs to Prevent Substance Use

Focus on Prevention: Strategies and Programs to Prevent Substance Use is a SAMHSA guide, revised in 2024, that helps communities plan and carry out substance use prevention efforts. It explains how to assess local needs, identify risk and protective factors, build partnerships, and select strategies supported by research. Using SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework, it connects assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Topics include prevention education, community policies, audience selection, social marketing, and media outreach. Practical tools include an event timeline, sample public service announcements, outreach letters, and articles that organizations can adapt. Prevention professionals, community coalitions, schools, and other organizations can use these materials to organize awareness events and develop broader prevention initiatives.