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Faith-Based Strategies
Initiatives that are delivered through or in partnership with faith communities and organisations. These approaches often draw on spiritual values, community networks, and pastoral support to promote wellbeing, prevent substance use, support recovery, and reduce stigma. Faith communities can play an important role in raising awareness, providing social support, facilitating referrals to professional services, and helping reintegrate individuals affected by substance use disorders. When combined with evidence-based practices and strong partnerships with health and social services, faith-based strategies can contribute meaningfully to comprehensive responses to substance use and related harms.
Protecting Youth from Mexican Drug Cartel Recruitment: The Prospects of Educational Interventions
This investigation considers the impact of Mexico’s War on Drugs since 2006 and the influence of widespread cartel networks on the youth population. As both victims and perpetrators of drug-related crime, the young individuals of Mexico are...
Recruitment of minors into organised crime
The recruitment of minors into serious and organised crime has increasingly become a tactic used by criminal networks to avoid detection, capture and prosecution. By using minors, the criminal networks increase the distance between the...
Faith-Based Interventions for Reducing Gang Violence in the Caribbean: Reflections from a Professor and a Priest
This book chapter explores the role of faith-based interventions in preventing and reducing gang violence in Trinidad and Tobago. Drawing on the experiences of a criminologist and a religious leader, it argues that gang violence should be...
The Association Between Religiosity and Substance Use Patterns Among Women Involved in the Criminal Justice System
This study explores the relationship between religiosity and substance use patterns among women involved in the criminal justice system. Using data from women participating in a drug court programme in the United States, the researchers...
Religiosity and crime: Evidence from a city-wide shock
This study examines the relationship between religiosity and crime using data from the 2015 visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia. By analysing daily crime reports before, during, and after the visit, the researchers found a significant...
The Role of Faith Communities in Addressing Substance Use and Crime – Reading List (Part 1)
In this reading list, we provide resources exploring the role of faith communities and faith-based organisations in addressing substance use, crime, violence and related social harms. Faith-based strategies draw on spiritual values...
Recovery Connections
Recovery Connections is a UK-based Lived Experience Recovery Organisation (LERO), a not-for-profit organisation that has developed a strong recovery community model beyond the treatment room. The work they do reflects a deeper understanding...
Understanding Youth Recovery
Recovery for youth differs from that of adults because, for most adults, recovery is about regaining stability and returning to a functional life. For youth, they are still developing and discovering themselves.
Law Enforcement and Prevention of Problem Behaviors: An Important Connection to Improve the Health and Safety of Our Communities
Why is the connection between law enforcement and prevention of problem behaviors such as substance use important? Perhaps it is Safety within our communities.
While law enforcement is responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining public...
Faith-Based Addiction Recovery
This article explores how faith-based recovery programs combine spiritual support with evidence-based addiction treatment to help people achieve and maintain recovery. These programs integrate religious beliefs and practices with services...
Spirituality and Harmful or Hazardous Alcohol and Other Drug Use
This meta-analysis reviewed 55 longitudinal studies involving more than 540,000 participants to examine the relationship between spirituality and harmful or hazardous alcohol and other drug use. The findings show that spiritual and...
The Role of Family Background in Adolescent Risky Behavior Development
This study examines the role of family background in the development of adolescent risk behavior using a sample of 614 secondary school students (mean age = 16.8). The results show that the quality of the parent-child relationship is a...
Addictology
Issue 1/2026
Our stories matter: A guide for publicly sharing lived and living experience of suicide
Every quote in this resource suite has been provided by a person with lived and living experience. We have drawn on this broad collection of unique insights to develop guidance resources that can support others who may want to share their...
Are There Health Benefits to Going ‘California Sober’?
Some people are going California sober, meaning they are cutting back on or quitting alcohol or other addictive substances in favor of using marijuana. In theory, the lifestyle choice aims to replace more harmful substances with something...
Football matchday moderation campaigns seem well-intentioned, but do they work – and what do they cost?
At football matches across the UK and beyond, fans increasingly encounter messages about moderation: pacing drinks, switching to low- or no-alcohol options, planning travel home, and “drinking responsibly”. These campaigns are often...
Implementación de un modelo de prevención universal para reducir el consumo de sustancias en adolescentes del municipio de San Fernando del valle de Catamarca, Argentina
ISSUP Chile presenta un seminario web 'Implementación de un modelo de prevención universal para reducir el consumo de sustancias en adolescentes del municipio de San Fernando del valle de Catamarca, Argentina'
TALK RECOVERY, TALK SAFE SPACES FOR MENTAL HEALTH
May is recognized globally as Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to encourage open conversations, challenge stigma, and promote emotional well-being for all. Across many cultures, however, men continue to face unique barriers when it...
The Opioid Crisis Practical Toolkit: Supporting Faith and Community Responses
This practical toolkit highlights the role of faith-based and community leaders in responding to the opioid crisis in the United States. Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it recognizes that community and faith...
Belief, Behavior, and Belonging: How Faith is Indispensable in Preventing and Recovering from Substance Abuse
This study reviews evidence on the role of faith and spirituality in preventing substance use and supporting recovery. It highlights that many addiction treatment programs in the United States include a spiritual component, particularly...
Strengthening Faith-Based Responses to Substance Use and Crime: ISSUP and CICAD to Host Knowledge Exchange Session in Latin America
ISSUP, in collaboration with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), will host a high-priority Knowledge Exchange Session on Faith-Based Approaches, bringing together ISSUP National Chapters across Latin America to...
