Promising strategies for reducing substance abuse have been successful in aiding businesses in Middle Tennessee. Universal interventions targeting young people aged 10 to 18 have been proven to influence the onset or increase of substance use. School programs focus on developing social, emotional, cognitive and substance rejection skills, as well as providing accurate information on the rates and amounts of substance use among peers. Early adulthood is usually associated with an increase in consumption, use of substances and substance abuse related consequences.
Screening and brief intervention (SBI) and electronic SBI have been acknowledged as effective strategies for identifying and decreasing substance abuse among adults. Community-based prevention programs can be effective in helping to address the major challenges posed by substance abuse and its consequences. Tennessee has extended its safety net for uninsured adults with behavioral health needs, but those services only target about 11% of people with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Brenda comprehends all aspects of effective promotion and organizing, from developing popular support to taking advantage of popular outreach.
It includes groups with several parents (eight weekly 2-hour sessions) and four to ten one-hour individual family visits, which have been shown to reduce substance use or delay the onset of substance use among adolescents. The likelihood of using substances increases dramatically during adolescence, peaks at the age of twenty and decreases thereafter. Research is needed to examine the effectiveness of screening tests and brief interventions for alcohol use in adolescents and adults; the evidence-based combinations of alcohol policies that most effectively reduce alcohol misuse and related harms; the public health impact of policies to reduce drug abuse; and the effectiveness of strategies to reduce the misuse of marijuana, driving after drug use, and concurrent use of alcohol and drugs. A study compared the characteristics of MADD chapters that were successful from the start in raising the MLDA to 21 with those of states that did not increase the age.
The recommended prevention interventions are aimed at those who are already involved in risky behavior, such as substance abuse, or who are starting to have problems, but who have not yet developed a substance use disorder. This research indicates that the key to achieving significant advances in public health, including reductions in substance initiation and misuse, is to build a prevention infrastructure at the local level. Given the impact of substance abuse on public health and the increased risk of long-term medical consequences, including substance use disorders, it is essential to prevent substance abuse from starting and to identify people who have already begun to misuse substances and intervene soon.