Webcast about preventing youth marijuana use available online

During last week's general coalition meeting, a few people asked for the link to the recently broadcast webcast, The Blunt Truth: Communities Dealing with Marijuana.  It is available "on demand" through the CADCA website. 

One of the panelists is Jim Cooper, the president of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP).  One of the goals of WASAVP is to increase awareness about how marijuana policy effects use among youth. 

CADCA gathering signatures in support of continued DFC funding

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is asking substance abuse prevention advocates to help them ensure that the Congressional “super committee,” charged with determining $1.5 million in federal budget cuts by November 23, does not cut funding for the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program for FY 2012.

The super committee is made up of 12 Congressional members, one of which is Senator Patty Murray. As a result, Senator Murray has a significant say in the final recommendations concerning what should be cut. CADCA is asking people to sign a letter to Senator Murray that outlines the DFC program's successes and makes the case to continue funding for the program.  Prevention WINS is funded by a DFC grant. 

For more information about the letter and how to sign on to it, contact CADCA's Director of Public Policy by September 12.

Free online learning opportunities

CADCA TV: Dispelling Drug Myths
April 28, 10-11:00 a.m. (Pacific)
Webcast live at CADCA.org

During this program, hear the facts about drugs from the experts. Listen to them dispel some of the big myths people hear and spread. Learn how to use facts to get the word out via social norms campaigns and other fact-based methods.

Because the need for correct information is so important, the National Institute on Drug Abuse is making it a priority to answer questions teens and others have by creating a drug facts week. We’ll visit a Virginia school that is being proactive and helping students learn what’s true so they can spread the word to others.


Menthol – Science, Policy, and Advocacy
May 5, 10-11:30 a.m (Pacific)
Registration is open.  The webinar will also be recorded and can be viewed online on the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center’s website beginning May 6

The issue of menthol in tobacco products is at the forefront of U.S. Food and Drug Administration deliberations. Join the webinar to learn about the science of menthol and its implications for policy and advocacy.

Thanks to advocacy efforts, DFC funding fully restored

From CADCA:

When CADCA issued an alert earlier this year that the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program had been slated for a $9.5 million cut, the field responded in force, sending nearly 3,000 faxes to Capitol Hill to ask Congress to restore the funds. These efforts, along with the advocacy efforts of CADCA, paid off. Funding for the DFC program has been fully restored to $95 million for FY 2011.


Nearly 450 applications have been submitted for the current FY 2011 grant cycle. It is our understanding that a funding level of $95 million means that there should be enough funds to support approximately 75 new grants, rather than the 7 that would have been available if the program had been cut by $9.5 million. The fact that funding the DFC funding was restored is a major success for the field.

DFC funding may be reduced

The Prevention WINS coalition is funded by a Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant.  Money for new grants is in jeopardy of being significantly reduced in the federal budget. 

The House of Representatives recently passed its version of the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for the rest of this fiscal year. The House-passed CR cuts the DFC program by $9.5 million, from $95 million to $85.5 million. If this cut becomes a reality, it means there will only be enough funding to support 7 new grants from the current grant solicitation that closes on March 18. The Senate has not yet passed its version of the CR.

Originally, funding for the DFC program was appropriated at $95 million to allow at least 75 new grants to be awarded in this current grant year.

For more information, visit the CADCA website.

Alcohol tax and price policies decrease alcohol-related morbidity and mortality outcomes

After reviewing fifty articles, spanning four decades, that provided data on the impact alcohol tax and price levels have on alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, researchers concluded that taxes on alcohol can prevent many alcohol-related problems.

According to CADCA's Research Into Action for January-February 2011: . . . alcohol taxes and prices have a significant and negative relationship to every outcome group evaluated including: alcohol-related violence, traffic crash fatalities and drunk driving, rates of STDs and risky sexual behavior, other drug use, and crime. Suicide was the only category that did not demonstrate a similar negative relationship in that increases in alcohol taxes and prices were not related to decreases in suicides.

Youth substance abuse prevention: a strategy for everyone

Earlier this week I blogged about environmental strategies for preventing youth substance abuse and shared handouts from the 2010 DFC New Grantee Training. One of the slides in the handout listed seven strategies for community change.

As a coalition, Prevention WINS members understand that each and every one of us has a role to play when it comes to creating a safe and healthy community which includes preventing youth substance abuse. To put that idea into practice, each individual and organization can do one or more of the strategies listed above.

CADCA's Handbook for Community Coalitions goes into more detail about how individuals and organizations can incorporate these strategies into what they already do.

Does your organization integrate substance abuse prevention messages into informational programs dealing with healthy youth, community safety, parenting, and other related topics?

Do you talk to your children, family, or friends about how to prevent youth substance abuse? If your organization works with children and/or families, do you share with them information about prevention or programs that will help them avoid drugs?

Do you provide opportunities for youth involvement in pro-social activities? Do you provide them with the skills needed to be successful in those activities? Do you recognize them for their involvement in activities that reduce risk and enhance protection?

What barriers exist in our community that get in the way of creating a safe and healthy environment for our children? What can you or your organization do, in collaboration with other coalition and community members, to eliminate those barriers?

What consequences do youth in our community face if they use drugs and alcohol? What recognition do they receive for leading healthy lives? What do we do to reduce the likelihood that youth can buy alcohol?

Where in our community do youth consume alcohol or smoke marijuana? Can anything in that environment be changed that would discourage drug use?

Does your organization have anti-drug policies and are youth aware of them? How do our local laws and policies affect youth substance use? Are laws and policies actually enforced?

As you can see, there are many opportunities to do things to prevent youth substance abuse. Some can be done individually, in the home, some can be done within your organization, and others need the full coalition and community behind them. What is clear is that each and every community member can play a role in prevention.

Environmental prevention: policy

Earlier today my blog topic was environmental prevention. During the DFC New Grantee Training, I attended a workshop about promoting policies that are proven to reduce youth substance abuse. Policy advocacy is considered an environmental prevention strategy.

The session started off with the question, "What policies (at what level?) can help make the population-level change you want to make in your community?" There are many settings within a community in which policy can make a difference.

When planning to advocate for policy change, it's important for coalition's to also ask themselves:

-- Is this winnable?

-- Is there energy behind it?

-- Is it worth the effort?

At least in the beginning of policy advocacy work, it is essential that coalition's find success to keep and build momentum.

The workshop went on to discuss different policies to address different factors contributing to youth substance abuse. Below are two factors present in northeast Seattle.

The last part of the workshop dealt with the steps to take when advocating for policy.

Policy advocacy is best when many voices are heard. A high level of support behind a policy is extremely important and it needs to be seen and recognized by the community and policy-makers.

The entire handout from the workshop if available on the coalition's website.

What is environmental prevention?

During the DFC New Grantee Training last week, we learned more about environmental prevention strategies.

Environmental strategies address the place, settings, occasions and circumstances in which alcohol and other drug use and/or sales occur. Over the last four years, the Prevention WINS coalition mostly worked on individually focused prevention programs like Life Skills Training and Guiding Good Choices.

The DFC grant requires that we focus on environmental strategies.

While the coalition's DFC strategies will focus on environmental prevention, we will continue to work with and support community organizations that offer individual prevention programs.

Copies of this presentation and others from the New Grantee Training are available on the coalition's website.

Sharing: DFC New Grantee Training

Earlier this week, I spent three days in Washington, DC participating in the 2010 Drug Free Communities New Grantee Training. The Prevention WINS coalition is one of 169 coalitions that were awarded DFC grants this year. Nationwide, 741 coalitions receive DFC funding and there are now 30 DFC coalitions in Washington!

In addition to the workshops about managing the grant, I was fortunate to participate in other sessions that are of interest to many coalition members. I will blog about them over the next few days.

Here are a few things I took away from the training:

-- Coalitions across the nation have been successful in reducing youth substance abuse. Coalitions that include all community sectors are the most successful. Everyone has a role to play. Help individuals and organizations recognize their role.

-- Infuse prevention into all conversations about public health and safety.

-- Coalition coordinators are community facilitators and barrier removers whose job it is to support community members and their prevention activities.

-- Tell your community's story. Don't rely only on data but share with others what you see in our community.

-- Take advantage of CADCA materials and trainings.

-- Take advantage of the Above the Influence campaign materials.

-- Sugarland's Stand Up is catchy. Jack Claypool, the federal administrator for the DFC program, played it several times during the training and it didn't leave my head until I got on the plane back to Seattle.

Highly involved partners boost coalition success

A recent study evaluated the efforts of the Allies Against Asthma Program, demonstrating that community coalitions with highly involved partnerships are the most successful in producing policy and systems change. The results offer useful implications for anti-drug coalitions to achieve community-level outcomes, according to CADCA's latest Research Into Action bulletin.

At the end of the bulletin, CADCA notes that growing evidence demonstrates that coalitions can achieve community-level outcomes by focusing on policies and systems to affect key health indicators.

The findings also suggest that coalitions with fewer highly engaged partners, as opposed to many less engaged partners, contribute to greater changes.

Safe & Drug Free Schools & Communities Program in jeopardy

In his Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request, President Obama recommends eliminating the State Grants portion of the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) program. The SDFSC program funds a significant portion of Seattle Public Schools' Prevention Intervention Program and many prevention programs around the state.

As part of a toolkit for prevention advocates, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) developed two fact sheets about SDFSC:

Eliminating the State Grants Portion of the SDFSC Program Is Not a Sound Proposal and

The State Grants Portion of the SDFSC Program Must Be Maintained.

President Obama proposed the elimination of this program because he says it has been deemed ineffective. Pride Surveys has prepared a SDFSC Briefing Paper repudiating his assertion.

Free community mobilization webinar

Free online training opportunity!

Community Mobilization for Coalitions webinar
Thursday, May 21, 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time

This webinar is meant to provide participants with step-by-step information on mobilizing neighborhoods and practical tips and tools to help coalitions communicate effectively with diverse audiences. Participants will learn:

-- the different forms of advocacy;

-- why it's important to research the issue and build capacity for specific strategies to be implemented;

-- how to recruit allies;

-- about different campaigns that coalitions may use in their communities.

To register, click here.

Include prevention in healthcare reform legislation

As President Obama and Congress work to get healthcare reform legislation introduced and passed, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is working to ensure that substance abuse prevention is included in the legislation. It has developed a proposal to include drug/alcohol prevention in healthcare reform.

Not only is this document useful for sharing with policy-makers, it provides good information about why what the NE Seattle coalition is doing is important. It provides data to support

-- the fact that prevention programs reduce economic and medical costs associated with substance abuse;

-- the multi-sector approach (coalitions) to prevention;

-- the need for comprehensive strategies.

If you want a synopsis of national data regarding substance abuse, prevention, and associated problems, this is a great source.

Effectiveness of coalitions discussed during UN meeting

In March, representatives from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) participated in a session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, Austria. They highlighted the vital role that community coalitions play in reducing substance abuse and how bringing various community sectors together has yielded real results.

"Research shows that community coalitions were a key contributing factor to the steep decline in substance abuse rates among American youth that occurred over the last eight years," said General Arthur T. Dean, CADCA CEO.

Another blog

I was just at the CADCA website looking for information on an upcoming webinar, when I came across their National Coalition Institute's Blog. Not only does it contain useful information for coalitions but it lists links to other coalition and prevention-related websites (including this one).

What is "environmental" prevention?

A term that people involved with underage drinking and youth substance abuse prevention hear a lot these days is "environmental strategies". These types of strategies are aimed at changing the environment in which substance abuse can occur. It's more than a one-time program, it's changing the community in which we live. By altering the environment in our neighborhoods, we can impact behaviors and decisions regarding substance abuse.

Learn more for free and from the comfort of your own desk . . .

The Path to Community Change
A free webcast program
Thursday, March 26, 2009
10:00 - 11:00 Pacific Time

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn what an environmental strategy is and how to implement them.
2. See how applying environmental strategies can impact substance abuse.
3. Discover why it takes a group to implement true change.
4. Learn the seven strategies to affect community change.

Register by clicking here.

CADCA previously did some webinars on environmental strategies. Here are a few resources they provided:

PowerPoint on Environmental Strategies
A new publication about environmental strategies
"Roots of Environmental Strategies: A Public Health Model"
Example of a community implementing environmental strategies

Substance abuse prevention white papers for Obama

The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America submitted white papers to the Obama Presidential Transition Team regarding the Drug Free Communities program, the State Grants portion of the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities program, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (which administers SPF-SIG). The white papers provide a good overview of the substance abuse prevention programs funded by the federal government.

Newspaper supplement educates parents, teens

CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) has released a newspaper supplement entitled Stay Smart, Don't Start: The Truth About Drugs & Alcohol. CADCA is working with the Newspaper in Education (NIE) Institute to get the supplement included in local newspapers.

Leadership forum scholarships available

The annual Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Leadership Forum will be held in the Washington, DC area February 9-12, 2009. The forum includes many opportunities to learn about what prevention activities are working in communities around the nation and features a Capitol Hill Day, when advocates meet with their federal representatives.

Scholarships are available and applications must be submitted by December 22.