• Information Dissemination
  Communications can be broadly defined as attempts to inform, persuade or motivate behavior changes in a relatively well-defined and large audience. This is done by one-way communication from the source to the audience, with limited contact between the two.
  
  
• Education
  This strategy involves two-way communication and is distinguished from the information dissemination strategy by the interaction between the educator and the participants. Activities aim to affect critical life and social skills, including decision-making, refusal skills, critical analysis and systematic judgment abilities.
  
  
• Alternatives
  Provides for the participation of the target populations in activities that exclude substance use. Activities that are designed to provide healthy, positive, pro-social diversions for young people to steer them from alcohol and other drugs-can complement other strategies by occupying young people's time during the non-school hours.
  
  
• Problem Identification and Referral
  This strategy aims at identification of those who have indulged in illegal/age-inappropriate use of tobacco or alcohol and those who have indulged in the first use of illicit drugs.
  
  
• Community-Based Process
  Aims to enhance the ability of the community to more effectively provide prevention and treatment services for substance abuse by involving multiple community sectors. Activities include organizing, planning, implementing, interagency collaboration, coalition building, and networking.
  
  
• Environmental
  Written or unwritten changes in community standards, codes, and attitudes, may influence incidence and prevalence of substance abuse in the general population. This strategy is divided into two subcategories to permit distinction between activities that center on legal and regulatory and those that relate to service initiatives.
  

Types of Environmental Approaches:

Individualized Environment - Seeks to socialize, instruct, guide, & counsel children to increase their resistance skills.

Shared Environment - Support healthy behavior, prevent risky behavior for all children.

Environmental Strategies - Price interventions, minimum-purchase-age, deterrence, location & density, counter- ads.