Using the Concept of Risk to Plan Drug Use Intervention Programs

The concept of risk is integral to the field of epidemiology. Risk can be defined as the probability of an event (including drug use) occurring in a population of interest. If drug prevention and intervention programs are to be successful, they must be targeted at high-risk population groups. This article proposes a two-step, multilevel, multivariate analysis strategy to estimate high-risk population groups in high-risk geographic areas. Its successful use could result in better data for decision makers to make informed judgments about developing intervention programs.