The 18-month pilot project, conducted in two Southern California communities, in 1983 and 1984, focused on developing methods for family-based health screening, short-term community interventions, and community organization for drug abuse prevention. Results of the pilot study indicate that community leaders from diverse fields can be organized to plan and implement community drug abuse prevention programs on a short-term basis. The 5-year longitudinal study of three large metropolitan areas will test the feasibility of long-term comprehensive community efforts. Approximately 45,000 youth and 5,500 adults will be surveyed annually for drug use and drug use-risk behaviors, including related attitudes, drug availability, and community norms for drug use. The study sample is approximately 73 percent white, 18 percent black, and 9 percent other minority groups. School, media, parent, and community organizational programs are described as factors necessary for employing a step-wise multicomponent approach to community drug abuse-prevention programs. Descriptive and statistical analyses of the results are used to determine what constitutes a community program for drug abuse prevention and how such characteristics as person, situation, assessment, and program environment interact to affect program outcome. 38 references.