The World Health Organisation (WHO) International Standards on Drug Use Prevention (external website) state that “prevention is about the healthy and safe development of children."

Currently there is no national approach in Scotland to address substance use and harm prevention for children and young people.

To address this gap, Public Health Scotland (PHS) are working with partners to create a national consensus statement that will be used to inform the development of national substance use and harm prevention (SUHP) approaches.

A consensus statement gathers opinions to bring agreement. The consensus statement aims to develop the delivery of a whole systems approach to SUHP in Scotland.

Addressing inequalities and the social determinants of health are key to the SUHP approach. These include, but are not limited to:

• child poverty
• education
• place-based approaches
• mental health
• childhood adversity
• trauma informed practice
• violence prevention
• justice
• gender-based violence
• youth employment
• physical activity
• surveillance

These areas of work should form an integral part of an overall SUHP approach for Scotland.