Written by: Matej Košir
In recent discussions within the prevention research and policy community, concerns have been raised that the current narrative might be neglecting environmental dimensions of drug use prevention. These concerns reflect a vital and legitimate point: environmental factors—such as poverty, inequality, community norms, regulation, and urban design—play a fundamental role in shaping health behaviours and vulnerability to substance use. Recognizing and addressing these structural and contextual elements is not only relevant but essential.
However, suggesting that contemporary prevention strategies and debates ignore or fail to incorporate environmental prevention is a misreading of the current global and European prevention landscape. In fact, environmental aspects are increasingly being highlighted and integrated across multiple levels of policy and practice. A closer examination of key recent documents—including the Oviedo Declaration and the latest resolutions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)—demonstrates that environmental prevention is very much present and evolving.
Environmental Prevention in the Oviedo Declaration
The Declaration of Oviedo (2024), endorsed by a broad coalition of experts and institutions, presents a comprehensive set of ten proposals for integrating prevention more effectively into drug policies. Several of these are explicitly rooted in environmental thinking:
- Proposal 2 emphasizes the need for early and lifespan-wide prevention, focused on family, school, and community systems.
- Proposal 4 calls for a shift in focus from the substance to the individual within their social and legislative environment, advocating for holistic and protective structures.
- Proposal 5 encourages intersectional, equity-based approaches tailored to the specific social determinants of health affecting marginalized populations.
- Proposal 6 stresses the importance of multi-stakeholder prevention systems, requiring cross-sector collaboration to deliver coordinated environmental and systemic responses.
These components demonstrate a deep integration of environmental prevention principles—not only acknowledging them but proposing concrete frameworks for implementation.
CND Resolutions: Prevention in Context
The most recent resolution of the CND (2025), focused on national systems of drug use prevention for children and adolescents, makes extensive reference to environmental risk and protection factors, including poverty, discrimination, and exposure to violence. It calls for cross-sectoral approaches that address the social and structural determinants of health, including in educational and community settings:
“…calls for a cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach that takes into account gender- and age-specific needs and focuses on the social, structural and environmental determinants of well-being and health…”.
Likewise, the 2022 Resolution 65/4 underlines the importance of evidence-based early prevention and highlights the role of environmental factors by referencing the UNODC/WHO International Standards on Drug Use Prevention, which include community-wide and structural interventions as core components.
More Than Awareness: A Call for Implementation
Environmental prevention is not just about acknowledging context—it’s about structurally reshaping it. This includes urban planning, taxation, advertising restrictions, school climate improvement, local policy, and public health regulation. These measures have been conceptualized and documented extensively, including in the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) report on environmental prevention interventions across Europe.
Yes, challenges remain in scaling up these approaches and ensuring they are funded and implemented effectively. But the assertion that the field is silent on environmental factors is inaccurate. The challenge is not visibility, but prioritization—turning frameworks into systems, and policy into practice.
Conclusion: Read the Full Picture
Environmental prevention is not a neglected side note in current prevention policy—it is increasingly recognized as a strategic and essential pillar. A correct reading of today’s debates requires engaging with the full content of the Oviedo Declaration and the substance of recent CND resolutions, which clearly integrate environmental, structural, and social determinants into the fabric of prevention systems.
Rather than debating whether environmental prevention is included, we should focus on how to ensure these principles are applied in practice, funded adequately, and scaled across systems. The framework is already in place. Now, it’s a matter of implementation.
References
- Commission on Narcotic Drugs. (2025). Promoting comprehensive, scientific evidence-based and multisectoral national systems of drug use prevention for children and adolescents (E/CN.7/2025/L.2/Rev.1). Link: https://docs.un.org/en/E/CN.7/2025/L.2/Rev.1
- Commission on Narcotic Drugs. (2022). Resolution 65/4 – Promoting Comprehensive and Scientific Evidence-based Early Prevention. Link: https://bit.ly/3EMPauP.
- Proyecto Hombre. (2024). The Declaration of Oviedo: Ten proposals for incorporating prevention in drug policies. Link: https://www.oviedodeclaration.org/.
- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). (2018). Environmental substance use prevention interventions in Europe: A technical report. Link: https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/technical-reports/environmental-substance-use-prevention-interventions-in-europe_en
