De la etiología a la prevención del uso y abuso de drogas recreativas

Abstract

Drug prevention must be guided by an adequate selection of the risk and protection factors. Individual and community factors most closely linked to marginalisation, poverty etc. are the ones that were, traditionally, of particular interest but, at the present time, recreational drug use depends on totally new conditions: the weekend night time recreational culture and the leisure industry which has generated an extremely widespread supply of a kind of entertainment in which the music, dancing and recreational drug use occupy an important place. The young who take part in these activities do so very frequently and are generally middleclass, good students with a low perception of the problems arising from drug use and of their effects. The importance of the woman as new drug user is notable. Reviewing prevention in recreational contexts undertaken up to now in Europe, it can be seen that it is based mainly on providing information and on harm reduction. These are actions that are unevaluated and presumed to be insufficient, when not ineffective - with the exception of those that directly aim to improve the recreational context- as they do not accomplish the demands of research into prevention. To be effective in these settings, prevention must take the cultural aspects into consideration, directly questioning the current recreational logic, and must reach an agreement with the leisure industry.