Applying SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework (Steps 1-3)
to the Prevention of Youth Marijuana Use
This tool is designed to help communities use the first three steps of SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF)—
assessment, capacity building, and planning—to address the issues of youth marijuana use and its consequences.
Specifically, the chart below presents:



Key questions that communities will need to answer at each step of the SPF to effectively address youth marijuana
use
Sample action steps that communities can take to answer these questions
CAPT resources available on the CAPT web area (samhsa.gov/capt) or under development.
Primary Assessment
Question
SPF Step
Step 1: Assessment
What is the nature and extent
of youth marijuana use and
related consequences?
Community Action Steps

Determine the types of data
needed to gauge the extent of
youth marijuana use at the
community level, and where
gaps exist

Identify data sources available
at the community level (e.g.,
law enforcement arrest data,
school surveys)

Identify what is needed (e.g.,
resources) to address data
gaps
CAPT Resources
Youth Marijuana Use:
Consumption, Consequence,
and Risk and Protective Factor
Data Resources (tool)
Adolescent Marijuana Use:
Analyzing the Consequences
(archived webinar)
Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.
Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. For training use only. January 19, 2016
http://www.samhsa.gov/capt/
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Primary Assessment
Question
SPF Step
Step 1: Assessment
(continued)
Step 1: Assessment
(continued)
What risk and protective factors
influence youth marijuana use
at the state/jurisdiction and
community levels?
What data on the risk and
protective factors associated
with youth marijuana are
available at the community
level?
Community Action Steps

CAPT Resources
Become educated on the
research supporting identified
risk and protective factors that
influence youth marijuana use

Educate stakeholders (e.g.,
community councils,
coalitions) on the risk and
protective factors that
influence youth marijuana use

Determine what data are
available at the
state/tribe/jurisdiction and local
levels to assess risk and
protective factors associated
with youth marijuana use

Work with the
state/tribe/jurisdiction to
identify potential challenges
and determine solutions to
addressing data gaps

Assist the
state/tribe/jurisdiction in
identifying local sources of
data on risk and protect factors
Risk and Protective Factors
Associated with Youth
Marijuana Use (tool)
Perceptions Matter: Identifying
Risk and Protective Factors
Associated with, and
Appropriate Strategies to
Address, Adolescent Marijuana
Use (ages 12-17) (archived
webinar)
Youth Marijuana Use:
Consumption, Consequence,
and Risk and Protective Factor
Data Resources (tool)
Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.
Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. January 19, 2016
http://www.samhsa.gov/capt/
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Primary Assessment
Question
SPF Step
Community Action Steps
CAPT Resources
associated with youth
marijuana use
Step 2: Capacity
Step 2: Capacity
(continued)
What resources are available at
the community level to address
youth marijuana use?

What resource gaps exist that
communities should address?

Identify any specific
knowledge, skills, or expertise
that practitioners need in order
to address youth marijuana

Learn how to use readiness
and capacity assessment tools
to identify internal capacity to
address youth marijuana use

Identify and communicate to
the state/jurisdiction the
training and technical
assistance needs of the
coalition and prevention
practitioners related to the
prevention youth marijuana
use

Learn how to use required
tools to assess community
What is the
community’s readiness to
address youth marijuana use?
Identify and engage
community stakeholders who
can influence the prevention of
youth marijuana use
21st Century Partners in
Prevention (tool)
Analyzing Internal and External
Partnerships (tool)
Checklists for Assessing
Readiness to Undertake
Community Collaboration
Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.
Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. January 19, 2016
http://www.samhsa.gov/capt/
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Primary Assessment
Question
SPF Step
Step 3: Planning
What strategies might you use
to address the factors that drive
youth marijuana use and
related behaviors? Are these
strategies evidence-based?
Community Action Steps
CAPT Resources
readiness to address youth
marijuana use
https://captcollaboration.edc.or
g/tool/worksheet-are-youready-assessing-readinesscollaborate

Conduct a readiness
assessment of the community

Create and implement a
community-level readiness
and capacity plan to build
readiness of community to
address youth marijuana use

Assess progress made
implementing this capacitybuilding plan

Review available resources
that describe outcomes of the
strategies that address youth
marijuana use, your priority
target the risk and protective
factors.
Request guidance from the
funding agency or evaluator
about the criteria you should
follow to select the strategies
that best fit your priority risk
and protective factors and
outcomes

Stages of Community
Readiness (tool)
https://captcollaboration.edc.or
g/tool/worksheet-assessingreadiness-potential-partnerscollaborate
Strategies and Interventions to
Prevent Youth Marijuana Use:
An At-a-Glance Resource Tool
(tool)
Prevention Programs that
Address Youth Marijuana Use
(tool)
Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.
Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. January 19, 2016
http://www.samhsa.gov/capt/
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Primary Assessment
Question
SPF Step
Step 3: Planning
(continued)
How can you be sure that the
strategies you have identified
will have an impact on the risk
and protective factors you
chose, and on youth marijuana
use overall?
Community Action Steps

Based on the community
assessment and guidance
provided by the
state/tribe/jurisdiction, decide
which strategies are the best
fit for addressing prioritized
risk and protective factors

Develop a community-level
logic model to guide planning
efforts

Create a community-level
strategic plan that aligns with
this logic model
CAPT Resources
Strategies and Interventions to
Prevent Youth Marijuana Use:
An At-a-Glance Resource Tool
(tool)
Prevention Programs that
Address Youth Marijuana Use
(tool)
Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.
Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. January 19, 2016
http://www.samhsa.gov/capt/
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