Drug Use, Illicit: Primary Care-Based Interventions for Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

1. Research on cannabis prevention that deliberately addresses both benefits and harms.
2. Standardization of outcome measurement across trials (e.g., health, social, or legal outcomes) to strengthen the evidence base and improve the ability to pool data.
3. More studies that replicate and further refine interventions that include family-based, clinician training, education, personal coaching, and continuous quality improvement components.
4. There was no evidence on preventing or reducing illicit drug use More data are needed on the benefits and harms of interventions in children younger than 10 years and in young adults (aged 18-25 years).
5. Implementation of technology-based interventions (e.g., text-based messaging, smartphone apps, games, web-based interventions, and social media) among families referred from primary care, to determine their uptake and effectiveness.

The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of primary care-based behavioral counseling interventions to prevent illicit drug use, including nonmedical use of prescription drugs, in children, adolescents, and young adults.

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