Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking has a great impact on public safety and health. This manual describes how communities can reduce alcohol related problems by using the STAD approach to limit the availability of alcohol. The manual is based on the original STAD programme and the outcomes from the seven European pilots that were performed within the project STAD in Europe.

The original STAD programme was developed by the research and development unit STAD (Stockholm Prevents Alcohol and Drug Problems) at the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm County Council. The European pilots were performed in 2017 and 2018 and funded, together with the development of this manual from the European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020). For further information on the research on the outcomes of the manual we would like to refer to the STAD in Europe research report. We hope this manual will provide useful and practical information for all people willing to initiate and implement the STAD approach in their community.

STAD is a community approach and is based on the plan, do, study, act-cycle. The first figure shows the different elements of the STAD approach and how they relate to each other. The figure refers to the different chapters in this manual that describe how to perform these elements. Though the chapters can be read independently it is recommended for all people getting involved to start with reading chapter 2 to get background information on the STAD approach and its theoretical substantiation.