Prevention programs to prevent cannabis use and high alcohol use among adolescents at risk

Alcohol and cannabis use are relatively common in adolescents and young adults. Incipient drug use represents a health risk (both illness and accidents) as well as dependency. Early intervention to prevent alcohol- and cannabis use among young people is suggested as important. We present the results of a systematic literature search for systematic reviews of the effects of different interventions aimed at reducting or moderating use of alcohol or cannabis.

The objective of the search is to provide an overview of the research field. Citations from the search were organized according to types of intervention and problem area:

• Interventions which aimed to reduce use of alcohol or debut were reported in seven systematic reviews. Interventions like mentoring, web-based interventions  and normative feedback were reported.
• Interventions which aimed to change  risk behaviour for both alcohol and cannabis use were reported in seven systematic reviews. Interventions like motivational interview and  brief interventions were reported.

We have assessed the methodological quality of the systematic reviews, but have not summarised the results and conclusions.