Why “Just Say No” Programs Don’t Prevent Alcohol Misuse

September 21st, 2017

Youth programs with a “just say no” approach to preventing substance use have proven largely ineffective. Researchers have known this for over a decade, but now studies are helping to explain why. Alcohol misuse results from a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors, those studies find. There is no one reason problems develop “and no one-size-fits all solution to solving them,” according to Jeanne Savage and colleagues in a review