Forum for Youth Investment

The Forum for Youth Investment (the Forum) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping communities and the nation make sure all young people are Ready by 21™ — ready for college, work and life. This goal requires that young people have the supports, opportunities and services needed to prosper and contribute where they live, learn, work, play and make a difference. The Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the information, technical assistance, training, network support and partnership opportunities needed to increase the quality and quantity of youth investment and youth involvement. Read More ...

How does marijuana use affect school, work, and social life?

From NIDA.

• Students who smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers."
• Workers who smoke marijuana are more likely than their coworkers to have problems on the job.
• Depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances are all associated with marijuana use.
• Moreover, research has shown that marijuana's adverse impact on memory and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off
• Marijuana's effects on the brain can cause cumulative deterioration of critical life skills in the long run.

Read the complete report here.

Montana Meth Project

From the Montana Meth Project. Methamphetamine use by young people in Montana is dramatically higher than the national average and the majority of all drug-related federal sentences in Montana are related to methamphetamine; clearly indicating there is a meth epidemic in Montana. These and a host of other facts have compelled leading professionals and organizations to form the Montana Meth Project, a community prevention effort aimed at the methamphetamine problem in Montana. Read more about the project here.

The ADP Continuum of Services System Re-Engineering (COSSR) Task Force: Final Report and Recommendations

In May 2006, the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs began an initiative to re-engineer the AOD services system. The first phase of the initiative is the design of the proposed re-engineered system of services. After examining the current system of providing AOD prevention, treatment, and recovery services, the COSSR Task Force developed a set of recommendations to guide the implementation and integration of a continuum of services (COS) model in California. We invite you to review the report and provide your comments and any additional recommendations by completing the on-line form by November 17, 2006. These comments will be considered by ADP in Phase II of this process when the COSSR Task Force develops the plan to implement the recommendations.
View Phase I COSSR Task Force Report

Teen Misuse Of Prescription Ambien On The Rise

CBS) DALLAS. A health warning about the latest craze on the party scene. People are getting high -- not on an illegal drug or a prescription painkiller -- but on one of the most popular sleeping medications in this country. Ambien is the best-selling prescription sleeping pill in the United States. Doctors wrote more than a quarter million prescriptions for it last year alone. But the government is concerned that some people, including kids, are abusing this little pill. They say it makes them high and even black out."I'd fall over. I had blurred vision, weird hallucinations," said one student. Read the complete story here.

Why do Adolescents Drink?

From NIDA. Adolescents say they drink for many of the same reasons as adults. Alcohol-related expectancies are well formed by age 12, among drinkers as well as among those who have never consumed alcohol. Although it is always difficult to know if individuals can accurately report the reasons for their behavior, including drinking, both adolescents and adults indicate that alcohol is an important ingredient in social interactions, allowing them to lower their inhibitions and feel more relaxed in social situations . Read the complete report here.

Lessons from Prevention Research

NIDA Report. The Lessons from Prevention Research are the result of long-term research studies on the origins of drug abuse behaviors and the common elements of effective prevention programs. These principles were developed to help prevention practitioners use the results of prevention research to address drug use among children and adolescents in communities across the country. Parents, educators, and community leaders can use these principles to help guide their thinking, planning, selection, and delivery of drug abuse prevention programs at the community level. Read the complete report here.

Elementary School Prevention

From NIDA. Prevention programs for elementary school children should target improving academic and social-emotional learning to address risk factors for drug abuse, such as early aggression, academic failure, and school dropout. Education should focus on the following skills (Ialongo et al. 2001; Conduct Problems Prevention Work Group 2002b):• self-control;• emotional awareness;• communication;• social problem-solving; and• academic support, especially in reading.Read the complete report here.

Methamphetamine Prevention

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) continues to support research to develop effective drug abuse prevention programs. In 2003, NIDA revised its Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents: A ResearchBased Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders, which presents updated researchbased prevention principles, an overview of program planning, and critical first steps for those learning about prevention. Because the goal of drug abuse prevention efforts is to prevent the initiation of drug use, most of these prevention efforts are not targeted toward any specific drug. However, recent results also demonstrate that these universal prevention programs can be effective at reducing methamphetamine abuse specifically. Read the complete report here (Prevention p.28).

Institute of Medicine Strategy to Prevent Underage Drinking

In 2002, Congress allocated $500,000 to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences to create a strategy to reduce and prevent underage drinking. The legislation called for a review of existing federal and state alcohol prevention programs to establish a more effective underage drinking campaign housed in the Department of Health and Human Services.
In September, 2003, the IOM released a comprehensive strategy to address underage drinking. The report, “Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility,” calls for a collective effort to address the problem from many constituencies, including alcohol manufacturers and retail businesses, the entertainment industry, and parents and other adults in local communities.
You can read the Campus Health and Safety summary of the report here.

Model Prevention Programs

The SAMHSA Model Programs have been tested in communities, schools, social service organizations, and workplaces across America, and have provided solid proof that they have prevented or reduced substance abuse and other related high-risk behaviors. Programs included have been reviewed by SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). You can find a complete list of Model Programs here.

Community Prevention

A report from NIAAA. Community action is essential to preventing problems associated with drinking alcohol, and especially those related to heavy alcohol use among youth and young adults. The rationale behind targeting communities instead of a subgroup of young people, such as those enrolled at a particular school, is compelling.Community strategies that focus on changing the local environment to decrease heavy drinking and reduce alcohol problems, among all age groups or specifically among young people, have the potential to effect structural changes in the community drinking environment that could have an especially broad and long-lasting impact on drinking behavior.Read the complete article here.

The Crowd Project

The State Incentive Grant (SIG) for the Reduction of Binge Drinking-Related Problems Among Youth and Young Adults is a collaboration between Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and the Center for Human Services. Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) provides management for the project. BHRS has contracted with the Center for Human Services to provide staffing for the project.The objectives of the project is to develop and implement a prevention plan in Stanislaus County that will reduce binge drinking among youth and young adults, ages 12-25 and reduce access and availability of alcohol to youth under age 21.Learn more about the Crowd Project here.

Party Patrol

In 2004/2005, the Modesto Police Department identified several underage-drinking parties hosted by minors who were attending these parties without any adult supervision. On every occasion when the Police Department responded the minors’ parents were out of town or away from the residence. Many of these juvenile drinking parties were hosted in the month of June due to several high school graduations and also hosted around school events such as homecoming, and other related sporting events. The Modesto Police Department developed “Party Patrol” in order to deal with these problems. Over the past several months, the Modesto Police Department has responded to numerous juvenile drinking parties. The Modesto Police made contact with approximately 375 juveniles and adults. Eighty-five of these minors were found to be under the influence of alcohol. Similar types of problems also exist in the rural areas of Stanislaus County. The Modesto Police Department has had a great deal of success conducting “Party Patrol” in order to deter minors from consuming alcohol and hosting these types of parties. Since “Party Patrol” was established, the Modesto Police Department has seen a reduction in alcohol related injuries and deaths related to juveniles and alcohol. The Modesto Police Department has developed a first-time offender juvenile alcohol education, prevention and intervention program. Minors contacted by the “Party Patrol” will be cited and required to attend diversion classes. The diversion class is a 4-hour class attended by the minor offender and their parents. The goal of the class is to make minors and parents aware of the dangers related to minors consuming alcohol.

The Cost of Prevention

A report from the Southwest Prevention Center.

Holder (2000), in his research study on environmental (universal) strategies, reports a cost savings of $2.88 for every dollar spent.

Ten of the twelve Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Programs reviewed demonstrated positive cost-benefit ranging from $3.43 to $102.29.Read the complete report here.

Prevention Policies

According to a report released by the Alcohol Epidemiology Program at UOM, to effectively prevent or reduce social and health problems associated with alcohol use, public health researchers address alcohol-related problems at the population level by promoting and evaluating alcohol control policies. The links below lead to descriptions of a variety of alcohol control policies.

Policies to Reduce Youth Access to Alcohol

Policies to Restrict Alcohol Advertising

Policies to Reduce Sales to Intoxicated Patrons

Alcohol and substance abuse is the number one health concern within Stanislaus County.

According to the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency Community Assessment Survey in 2005, Alcohol and substance abuse is the number one health concern within Stanislaus County. HSA conducted the survey as part of the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP) project.

Key alcohol and substance abuse findings:

• 35% drank alcohol within the last month
• 56% of the drinkers binge drank (5 or more drinks) on at least one occasion in the last month
• 11% rode in a vehicle with a drinking driver in the past month
• 8% used illegal drugs in the past year
• Out of the alcohol drinkers, 14% used illegal drugs
  

Read more on the survey results and MAPP

California Student Survey

Three Major Findings from the 11th California Student Survery

First, California students' overall use of drugs and alcohol is leveling off; however, there is a slight increase in 7th graders' substance use, which the CSS will be monitoring.

Second, CSS findings from a new question on prescription painkillers show a significant number of students are taking them to get high: 15 percent of 11th graders, 9 percent of 9th and 4 percent of 7th graders reported they took the painkillers without a doctor's orders. These results place diverted prescription drugs as the third most commonly used substance by students, after alcohol and marijuana.

Third, the heavy use of drugs and alcohol -- an example is binge drinking -- is still at unacceptably high levels. Thirty-two percent of 11th graders are heavy users of alcohol and drugs -- that is basically the same finding from the previous survey in 2003-04. Their numbers have remained relatively unchanged for the last 15 years that the survey has been reporting on heavy use.Read the complete report at SafeState.org

Older Adult Prevention

TIP 26: Researchers are only beginning to realize the pervasiveness of substance abuse among people age 60 and older. Until relatively recently, alcohol and prescription drug misuse, which affects as many as 17 percent of older adults, was not discussed in either the substance abuse or the gerontological literature...read more.

From SAMHSA. Older adults are uniquely vulnerable to substance use disorders due to a variety of biological, psychological, and social changes associated with aging. Older adults have an increased risk for misuse and abuse of medications, as they use a higher number of prescription and over-the-counter medications compared to younger adults...Read More

What is Prevention?

Prevention is any activity that is intended to reduce or minimize the incidence of drug abuse and its negative consequences.Central to drug prevention is the development and implementation of programs that prevent illicit drug use, keep drugs out of neighborhoods and schools, and provide a safe and secure environment for all people.Prevention strategies can vary widely but generally are associated with community based collaborations, education, alternative behaviors, and primary and early intervention activities.To give communities the science-based tools to prevent drug abuse, we must have research in several emerging areas of prevention.These principles and guidelines were drawn from literature reviews and guidance supported by the departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services as well as ONDCP.Read more.