Community is the key to successful intervention in teen substance abuse. (includes editor's note)

* In order to undercut the impact of drug use among teens, community based organizations must learn to work within the "natural support networks" of ethnic communities, according to an article published in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly.

Author Melvin Delgado, Ph.D., of the Boston University School of Social Work, says that the recent upturn in youthful substance abuse has had "a disproportionate influence on communities of color." This is especially true, he says, in communities where English is not the first language. In order to reach such communities effectively, practitioners must "plan interventions within a cultural and community capacity development context, in order to increase the likelihood of therapeutic success."

Working within the natural support networks that already exist in ethnic communities presents many new …