This wide-ranging handbook brings together experts in the sociology of drug abuse prevention. Providing a comprehensive overview of the accumulated knowledge on prevention theory, intervention design, and development and prevention research methodology, this work also promotes prevention science as an evolving field in the practice and policy of drug abuse prevention.

Adolescent substance abuse is the nation's #1 public health problem. It originates out of a developmental era where experimentation with the world is increasingly taking place, and where major changes in physical self and social relationships are taking place. These changes cannot be understood by any one discipline nor can they be described by focusing only on the behavioral and social problems of this age period, the characteristics of normal development, or the pharmacology and addictive potential of specific drugs. They require knowledge of the brain's systems of reward and control, genetics, psychopharmacology, personality, child development, psychopathology, family dynamics, peer group relationships, culture, social policy, and more. Drawing on the expertise of the leading researchers in this field, this Handbook provides the most comprehensive summarization of current knowledge about adolescent substance abuse. The Handbook is organized into eight sections covering the literature on the developmental context of this life period, the epidemiology of adolescent use and abuse, similarities and differences in use, addictive potential, and consequences of use for different drugs; etiology and course as characterized at different levels of mechanistic analysis ranging from the genetic and neural to the behavioural and social. Two sections cover the clinical ramifications of abuse, and prevention and intervention strategies to most effectively deal with these problems. The Handbook's last section addresses the role of social policy in framing the problem, in addressing it, and explores its potential role in alleviating it.

This book examines the current strides being made in evidence-based drug prevention, particularly with school-age youth. It explores decades of research and successful programs to help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers make further progress in preventing drug abuse.

The second edition of The Substance Abuse Handbook follows the general organization of the 'big' book, Lowinson and Ruiz's Substance Abuse. This title distills content from the larger text into a concise, portable guide for healthcare professionals who need to diagnose and treat addictive disorders and related medical conditions.

The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse offers educators, counselors, and clinicians a handbook for understanding and implementing a new and highly successful alternative to traditional methods for preventing substance abuse among young people. The proven "social norms" approach outlined in this book identifies young people's dramatic misperceptions about their peer norms and promotes accurate public reporting of actual positive norms that exist in all student populations. The contributors to this important book are the originators, pioneers, and active proponents of this new approach. Many of them have successfully applied the social norms approach in secondary and higher education settings and as a result have promoted healthier lifestyles among adolescents and young adults across the United States.

*HA13, Handbook on Drug Abuse Prevention: A Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent the Abuse of Alcohol and Other Drugs, Robert H. Coombs(UCLA School of Medicine), Douglas M. Ziedonis(Yale University School of Medicine), 37755-6, 608 pp., 7 x 9 1/4, 0-133-77557-7, casebound, 1995, $20.00nk, January*/This hard-hitting handbook addressing substance abuse is comprised of chapters written by a variety of leading experts in the drug prevention/treatment field. This volume specifies proven and effective techniques, critiques ineffective and counterproductive approaches, and proposes options for retaliation against the on-going war.

"Drug Abuse Prevention: A School and Community Partnership, Third Edition", takes an evidence-based approach to teach students the important concepts and skills needed to design effective drug prevention programs. Covering more than just the facts, this text provides a background of drug use and abuse and presents the principles and skills of prevention, with particular focus on adolescents and school settings. It reinforces the importance of schools forming community partnerships with key institutions and the application of policy tools to enhance the impact of education alone. -- From publisher's description.