Community Substance Use Prevention

Substance use, such as alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and other drugs among youth in our communities, is a complex problem that requires a complex solution. Substance use prevention strategies have traditionally targeted individual behaviours by providing substance use messaging and education programs to youth. Planet Youth is an upstream prevention approach focusing on changing the environment by reducing the known risk factors and strengthening the known protective factors. This upstream prevention approach reduces or stops substance use problems before they arise. Planet Youth focuses on implementing local data-driven solutions that work to improve the health and well-being of youth that goes far beyond simply reducing substance use.

What is Upstream Prevention?

Upstream prevention focuses on addressing the root causes of a health issue. It uses strategies and interventions that enhance protective factors, such as social connectedness and positive social and health outcomes. It also minimizes risk factors and associated negative outcomes, such as substance-related harms.

Levels of Prevention

Primary Prevention:

The purpose of primary prevention is to prevent a disease from ever occurring. Primary prevention strategies target population is healthy individuals.

Secondary Prevention:

Secondary prevention emphasizes early disease detection, and its target is healthy-appearing individuals with sub-clinical forms of the disease.

Tertiary Prevention:

Tertiary prevention targets the treatment of a disease. It is implemented for patients showing symptoms of disease and aims to reduce the severity.

More about Planet Youth

Planet Youth, 2023

Planet Youth is not a program—it’s an approach that uses localized data to identify, mobilize and develop local resources and community-driven solutions that promote positive social and environmental changes for long-term, sustainable transformation of substance use rates. The Planet Youth model was pioneered in Iceland over 20 years ago — since then, the youth substance use rate there has gone from 48% to less than 5% in 2017. Some of the successful steps taken in Iceland and other countries include:

removing barriers to positive activities and pursuits for youth (leaving park lights on later in the winter months when it gets dark earlier)
creating policies and social contracts that change the way we use and talk about substances in our community, talking about the benefits of increased family time and parental supervision.
improving lines of communication between schools, parents, community organizations and youth.

Who is Planet Youth for?

Planet Youth focuses on pre-teens and teenagers. By investing our energy and resources in this age cohort, we optimize the impact of Planet Youth across the region.
A core principle of Planet Youth is that prevention activities should engage the whole population of young people rather than targeting particular individuals or groups.
Planet Youth works to implement solutions based on primary prevention that change the environment and societal factors that influence substance use.

Understanding Risk and Protective Factors