Chapter 8
Drug Use and Prevention: From Cradle to Grave

Overview

Substance abuse prevention ranges from total prohibition, to temperance, to harm reduction, to legalization. Currently the three main prevention strategies are supply reduction, demand reduction, and harm reduction. Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention are used with all age groups but the availability of increasing numbers of drugs makes this a difficult task.

From birth to death, people are exposed to psychoactive drugs and that exposure has a pervasive influence on all levels of society. The impact varies from the pregnant drug-using mother trying to stay clean, the high school student experimenting with marijuana, the heavy-drinking college student annoying other residents of the dormitory, the worker taking advantage of an employee assistance program to avoid losing his job, the IV drug user battling an HIV infection, or the older person trying to avoid dangerous interactions among a dozen prescribed medications.

After summarizing prevention techniques and efforts, the chapter examines current drug use patterns among various age groups as well as surveying the relationship of drugs to sexual behavior, sexual violence, hepatitis, and AIDS. With each age and social group, appropriate methods of drug-abuse prevention are studied.