How targeting teenage drug use before it starts seems to be paying off – CBC

PreVenture program has reduced odds by focusing on risky personality traits: study

Feb 28, 2025

A drug prevention program that began in Montreal has been found to reduce the risk of substance use disorders in teens by offering them tools and strategies to cope with personality traits like impulsivity and anxiety.

“If a young person is reporting very high levels of these traits, they’re more likely to use substances as a way to manage those traits,” said Patricia Conrod, founder of the PreVenture program, who is also a psychiatry professor at the Université de Montréal and a scientist at Sainte-Justine hospital in Montreal.

A recent study in the American Journal of Psychiatry looked at the impact of PreVenture in 31 Montreal-area high schools over a five-year period.

Conrod told CBC News that the odds of developing a substance use disorder increase as students get older. The study found the program helped reduce the growth in the odds of substance use disorder by 35 per cent year over year, compared with a control group.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/teens-drug-use-prevention-study-1.7470849