Drug Prevention for Young Asylum Seekers and Refugees A Review of Current Knowledge

Mentor seeks to undertake, identify, support and share information on effective, proven and promising practices that will protect children and young people from the harm that drugs cause and that will make misuse less likely. Drug treatment services treat individuals once they have developed a problem. The prevention of drug misuse addresses personal, social or environmental factors in order to contribute to delaying or avoiding the onset of drug use and its progression to harmful or problematic misuse. It is based on the principle that drug misuse is preventable behaviour and that prevention can bring about lasting changes in communities. The UK government and others have stressed the importance of prevention in tackling the structural problems affecting socially excluded communities across the UK. This paper, commissioned by Mentor UK, looks at drug prevention among young asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It includes a literature review, an overview of existing provision and identification of gaps in our current knowledge