ABSTRACT
There is a high prevalence of substance use amongst children and young people in the UK. While for the majority, this is largely experimental, a significant minority will develop substance misuse problems. Substance misuse problems are correlated with young people who might be described as vulnerable or, put another way, are exposed to a number of other risk factors associated with offending behaviour and social exclusion. For this reason, it is hard to isolate the independent impact of substance misuse on offending behaviour. While the scope and scale of substance misuse amongst children and young people is well documented, there is relatively little evidence relating to effective interventions for preventing substance misuse in the first place and with regard to providing programmes for the treatment of substance misuse difficulties.
