Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

56 Strategies
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Minimum tobacco age laws

Minimum legal tobacco age (MLTA) laws specify the legal age to purchase or publicly consume tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Naloxone education & distribution programs

Distribute Naloxone to trained community members and first responders to reverse opioid overdoses
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs)

Use databases, housed in state agencies, to track prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, III, IV, and V drugs and other controlled substances
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Proper drug disposal programs

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Air, water and land

Recreational marijuana legalization

Allow adults to possess a limited amount of marijuana for personal, non-medical use; often called recreational marijuana laws (RMLs)
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Responsible beverage server training (RBS/RBST)

Educate owners, managers, servers, and sellers at alcohol establishments about strategies to avoid illegally selling alcohol to underage youth or intoxicated patrons
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Retail alcohol sale privatization

Repeal government control over retail sales of alcoholic beverages, allowing commercial retailing of those beverages
Evidence Rating:
Evidence of Ineffectiveness

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Sales to intoxicated persons (SIP) law enforcement

Increase enforcement of laws that prohibit alcoholic beverage service to intoxicated customers, usually with fines, imprisonment, or revocation of a license
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

School-based tobacco prevention skill-building programs

Teach students personal and social skills to avoid tobacco use; led by teachers, health educators, or students in elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Secondhand smoke education interventions

Use counseling, informational materials, etc. to inform smokers and non-smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and encourage them to implement home smoking bans
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use