{"id":19788,"date":"2025-08-03T16:58:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T15:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=19788"},"modified":"2025-10-21T20:54:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T19:54:57","slug":"a-brief-history-of-drug-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/08\/a-brief-history-of-drug-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Drug Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OPENING REMARK BY NDPA:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dianova presents itself as a “Swiss NGO recognized as a Public Utility organization, committed to social progress”.\u00a0<\/em>Examination of their publications places them as an organisation which is less committed to primary prevention than to reactive approaches, such as harm reduction. A telling quote in this context comes in their publication entitled<\/span> “<\/em><\/span><\/span>Between Music and Substances: a Look at Drug Use at Festivals”<\/em> <\/span>… they introduce this by saying <\/span>“<\/span>Drug use is a common occurrence at most music festivals: how can we promote self-care and harm reduction among participants?”<\/span> – <\/em>there is no mention of prevention as a policy option.<\/span><\/p>\n

In their ‘history’ Dianova take a position found not infrequently in some other other critics of prevention i.e. any prevention program which does not achieve 100% success is deemed a failure … but no such assessment is made of reactive or accepting policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this publication they dismiss the ‘Just Say No’ program as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>“…focusing mainly on white, middle-class children, it simply pointed the finger at others, particularly black communities, who were held responsible for the problem.” <\/span><\/span><\/em>And yet immediately below this statement they include a photo of a White House ‘Just Say No’ rally, with Nancy Regan surrounded by black youngsters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dianova make judgemental remarks – without supporting evidence – in several places, and NDPA take would issue with several of these, but we have elected to retain this paper complete with their judgemental remarks, to illustrate their position on the ‘history’ as they see it.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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by\u00a0the Dianova.org team<\/em><\/strong> –\u00a0