For more than a decade, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) has been providing support to Member States of the United Nations on all matters related to international drug control, including drug demand reduction. In particular, UNDCP has been tasked to identify and disseminate best practices in all areas of drug demand reduction, including drug abuse prevention. Best practices should be seen as a synthesis of scientific research results and of lessons learned from ongoing and previous initiatives. They should always be adapted to the environments where they are to be applied, irrespective of whether they are focussed on the individual, family, peers, school, community and/or society at large. In providing a global review of some lessons learned in drug abuse prevention, this report, compiled in collaboration with the Mentor Foundation, an international nongovernmental organization, and with the support of the UK Government, represents an attempt on the part of UNDCP to facilitate the sharing of information about past and current promising approaches in drug abuse prevention.