This miniguide is one of a larger set, which together comprise Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide 2021. It provides an overview of what to consider when planning or delivering health and social responses to drug-related problems in local communities, and reviews the available interventions and their effectiveness. It also considers implications for policy and practice.

Key issues
Local communities are important for drug responses in providing a way of promoting bottom-up civic engagement and action. In Europe, cities, municipalities and local governments are often the main drivers of strategy development and delivery. Here, the term community is used to mean a group of individuals sharing a common geographical and administrative setting or the location in which they live. Communities may be involved in drug responses in different ways:

• as a population or a setting experiencing certain drug-related challenges such as open drug scenes or drug-related crime;
• as a population or a location in which interventions to address specific problems and harms are implemented;
• as a group engaged in the assessment and planning of local responses to drug problems (community involvement).