Prevention programs have proven to be effective, but families and influential adults continue to play the most important role in determining how youth handle the lure of alcohol, cigarettes, misuse of prescription drugs, and illegal drugs. More recent studies have shown that parents and guardians (and adults influential in a youth’s life) who speak to their children about the issues and have dinner with them on a regular basis, have children with a lower rate of use and abuse.

Info excerpted from youth.gov.