As part of the Cochrane, the group is aimed to produce and disseminate systematic reviews of studies on the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the problematic use of drugs and alcohol.

The principal objective of systematic reviews is to develop information:

• Evidence based

• Easily accessible

• Internationally developed

• Clinically relevant

• Updated

They are useful because size and availability of data are huge and increasing, access to results of research is sometime random, quality of research is heterogeneous and many studies are too small (low statistical power)

They allow to judge:

–Whether there are sufficient evidences of effectiveness of the intervention

–Whether it is necessary to conduct further studies for the evaluation of a treatment and which aspects should be considered

Our systematic reviews are based mainly on all Randomised Controlled Trials and Controlled Clinical Trials that describe an active intervention (including prevention, treatment and rehabilitation) aimed at reducing the potential for harm or the actual harm directly related to the use of different dependence producing substances.