Substance use among children and adolescents is a significant multidisciplinary issue, the legal context of which can be traced back on the historical territory of what is now the Czech Republic to over 200 years ago. The multidisciplinary nature of the phenomenon and the efforts to respond to it require that we not only address it from a medical perspective but also see it as a social, educational, psychological, and legal issue. The legal aspect, not only in terms of restrictive measures as they ought to be (de lege ferenda) or as they are (de lege lata), is a major factor for comprehensive and systematic work on the part of the professions concerned. The objective of this paper is to provide a concise summary of the development of the legal tools intended to reduce the availability of addictive substances to children and adolescents in the last century.

Key words: addictive substances – alcohol – children's and adolescents' substance use – addiction