By means of this paper we would like to call attention to the fact that the most effective way to avoid drug addiction is prevention. In the beginning we studied the features of primary prevention, its philosophy and mistakes. The aim of this study is: 1) To show the importance of prevention while emphasizing the fact that the addiction treatment is demanding, costly and time consuming. The prognosis of a positive outcome is distant and thus prevention, or in other words avoiding the actual start of the sickness, is the most effective way. 2) To offer a list of qualitative criteria participating on a development of an effective program and to introduce the possibilities of how these criteria can be applied when choosing a program. 3) To process a comparison of primary prevention programs through generalizing the qualitative criteria. For this comparison we chose three different primary prevention programs most frequently used in schools. We hope for the possibility of putting our findings, to use when choosing a particular program or method of an active prevention practice.

Key words: prevention – drugs – leisure time – school – protective and risk factors – qualitative criteria – primary prevention programs