A systematic review of actors, actions, and outcomes of community-based efforts to prevent or reduce methamphetamine use

Abstract

Background

There has been an increase in methamphetamine use across the globe, despite widespread control of the drug, prevention, and treatment. Community-based approaches have proven effective in tackling diverse health-related challenges including substance use; however, little is known regarding community programs targeting methamphetamine use. We conducted a systematic literature review on community programs aimed at tackling the use of methamphetamine across the globe.

Method

Relevant literature from peer-reviewed and gray literature sources were systematically identified. A grid template was used to extract and synthesize findings from retrieved literature regarding themes of actors, actions, and outcomes related to identified programs.

Results

A total of 19 documents met our inclusion criteria. Some of the dominant actors in efforts to reduce methamphetamine use in communities were local councils, drug enforcement units, influential persons in the community, people who use or had used methamphetamine, business corporations, and already-existing health promoting platforms. Actions taken were typically education/awareness/information campaigns. Drug enforcement agencies appeared to make little gains when acting alone, and appeared to drive dealers and users underground. Many of the efforts made at the community level were alluded to be beneficial; however, it was difficult to quantify the impact of programs. Community-level efforts also tended to cascade to other drugs.

Conclusion

Community-based actors and actions are diverse and critical to the prevention of methamphetamine use. There is a need to better coordinate and integrate different actors and interventions so that outcomes can be better monitored and evaluated for greater effectiveness in reducing methamphetamine use.

Keywords:

• Methamphetamine
• community
• drug use
• community-based action
• actors
• outcomes

Acknowledgement

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect that of the Department of Health and Human Services nor the National Institute of Health. Support for this project was provided by contract no. HHSN271201800032C (PI: Orjiakor) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in partnership with the International Consortium for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR) and IQ Solutions, Inc.

Research reported in this publication was also supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuseof the National Institutes of Health under Award Number: R01DA044207 (PI: Palamar).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) in partnership with the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR).