Impact of substance abuse on state budget

A new report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University shows that state governments spend, on average, 15 percent of their entire budgets on substance abuse and addiction and its consequences. The report indicates that for every dollar spent on the problem, 94 cents goes to deal with the consequences in public programs such as health care, criminal justice, education, child welfare, and mental health. Only about 2 cents go to prevention, treatment and research to reduce the problem, according to the report.

Here is the breakdown CASA did about substance abuse related spending in Washington. To view the full report, click here.

Communication strategies in addiction prevention

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has made available online capacity-building audio seminars. The September 2008 seminar is about communication strategies in addiction prevention and treatment. It includes both audio and down-loadable transcripts covering:

Thinking Beyond the Press Release;
Talking With the Media;
Taking Control of Media Interviews;
Positioning Your Organization for Success.

Parenting influences adolescent drinking

Earlier today, I was doing an online search for information on studies about parenting to prevent underage drinking. While it wasn't what I was looking for, I came across an interesting article in Science Daily entitled, " Parental Drinking and Parenting Practices Influence Adolescent Drinking". Here's what I found most interesting:

"These two dimensions of more parental control -- monitoring and discipline -- may be useful targets for the development of intervention studies," said Windle. "The second finding is important in identifying the differential influences of parenting behaviors at different stages of adolescent development. From a developmental perspective, older adolescents are much more influenced by other socialization agents, especially peers, and perhaps stronger genetic influences, whereas in early adolescence parenting practices are more highly influential. These findings are important for designing age-appropriate interventions whereby parenting practices may play a prominent role in early adolescence, but peer, parental drinking, and other factors may need to be focused on in later adolescence."

"With respect to individual aspects of parenting, our analyses show that parental alcohol use, intoxication, and problem drinking symptoms are consistently associated with decreases in monitoring and increases in discipline," said Latendresse. "Decreases in monitoring are related to higher levels of adolescent alcohol use at age 14 and more frequent intoxication at both 14 and 17.5. Likewise, increases in discipline are linked to more frequent use and intoxication, but only when adolescents are 17.5. Although these findings are consistent with the protective effects of parental monitoring, it is important to note that excessive discipline may actually have the unintended effect of conveying greater risk for alcohol-related behaviors among adolescents as they get older, and are seeking a greater sense of autonomy."

This is why it is important to focus on PREVENTION of underage drinking. The NE Seattle coalition is doing just that with a curriculum for middle school students and parenting programs for adults with children in grades 4-8.

Effective prevention on college campuses

The third updated edition of Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention on College Campuses: Model Programs, published by U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, is now available at no charge.

The report includes descriptions of model programs at Auburn University, Boston College, Bowling Green State University, George Mason University, Gonzaga University, Grand Valley State University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Lehigh University, Loyola Marymount University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, Rutgers, San, Diego State University, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

The book, which is in the public domain, can be viewed online at highereducationcenter.org/files/product/model.pdf. To obtain a free hard copy of the book, call toll-free 1-877-433-7827 (1-877-4-ED-PUBS) or 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN) or email edpubs@inet.ed.gov.

Reducing drunk driving deaths

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published "Lives Saved in 2007 by Restraint Use and Minimum Drinking Age Laws." The report's findings indicate that the 21-year-old minimum drinking age laws have prevented an estimated 4,441 drunken driving deaths in the last 5 years alone. (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

Funding opportunities

Drug Free Communities Grant

The 2009 Request for Applications (RFA) for the Drug Free Communities program will be released on or about January 12, 2009. Subsequent to the release, application workshops will be held around the country to assist communities in responding to the details of the RFA. The closest one to Seattle will be held in Portland on Monday, February 2, 2009. Although there is no registration cost to attendees, you must RSVP.

The grants support coalitions of youth; parents; media; law enforcement; school officials; faith-based organizations; fraternal organizations; State, local, and tribal government agencies; healthcare professionals; and other community representatives. The Drug Free Communities Support Program enables the coalitions to strengthen their coordination and prevention efforts, encourage citizen participation in substance abuse reduction efforts, and disseminate information about effective programs.

Stipend for Teach-In

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is making available a limited number of stipends for community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct Reach Out Now Teach-Ins (RONTIs). Stipends in the amount of $300 will be awarded to up to 2,000 organizations on a first-come, first-serve basis. CBOs must declare their intent to participate by completing an online confirmation form.

Since the NE Seattle Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking held a Town Hall Meeting in March 2008, our community is eligible for the stipend. Please contact me if you are part of the NE Seattle community and would like to host a Teach-In.

Grants to Prevent High Risk Drinking Among College Students

The U.S. Department of Education´s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools recently announced that they are accepting applications for the Grants to Prevent High-Risk Drinking and Violent Behavior Among College Students competition. They anticipate awarding 18 grants in the amount of $100,000-$150,000 each. The deadline to apply is Jan. 30, 2009.

This program provides funds to develop, enhance, implement, and evaluate campus-based and/or community-based prevention strategies to reduce high-risk drinking and violent behavior among college students.

School Character Education Grant

The Sprint Character Education Grant Program accepts applications for funding of character education programs promoting leadership, youth volunteerism, character education, and school pride. Grants will fund the purchase of resource materials, supplies, teacher training, and equipment that facilitates character education for K–12 students.

Applications for 2009 will be accepted February 1-27. Public schools may apply for individual school grants up to $5,000.

From JoinTogether.org:

Youth Violence Prevention Grant

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will award a pair of $500,000 grants to assess the efficacy of community policy, economic and environmental changes aimed at reducing youth violence.

"The purpose of this program of research is to assess the efficacy or effectiveness of interventions and policies designed to change the economic or environmental characteristics of a community to reduce rates of youth violence perpetration and victimization," according to the CDC. "Youth violence has been linked to a variety of factors, including individual, family, community, and societal characteristics. Although much research has been conducted on interventions to change the characteristics of individuals and families, less research has focused on evaluating interventions and policies designed to change community economic or environmental factors."

Nonprofits and public agencies are eligible to apply. Letters of intent are due Jan. 26, 2009; applications are due Feb. 23.

Gang Resistance Grants

The U.S. Department of Justice will award grants of up to $125,000 under its Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) Program, which aims to prevent youth gang involvement, violence and delinquency.

The program centers on lectures by police officers focusing on life-skills development -- similar to the D.A.R.E. drug-prevention program.

Application deadline is Jan. 22, 2009. Law-enforcement agencies are eligible to apply.

Youth binge drinking in France

According to the BBC news, binge drinking was once thought to be the exclusive province of young Brits and Americans, but now French adolescents are defying cultural stereotypes and drinking heavily with the intention of getting drunk, too.

According to the story, "The (French) government recognises the problem and plans to raise the legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 next year."

"In some parts of Paris, municipal authorities have already targeted teenage drunkenness by declaring "dry areas" where drinking on the streets is banned at night."

"These measures mark a major shift in a society which used to take pride in initiating children into the art of sipping wine with their parents from an early age."

"The consensus was that this approach bred a moderate, mature attitude to alcohol."

"A glass or two of wine at home over dinner, it used to be thought, protected the French from the need to indulge in a British-style Saturday night booze-up at the pub."

The article goes on to state, "Our societies resemble each other more and more, and binge drinking, especially at weekends, has developed in recent years in France," says Patrick Bloche, mayor of the 11th Arrondissement, or district, of Paris."

Of course there is opposition to new French policies. People argue that teens are going to drink not matter what restrictions are put in place. This is simply not true. We have plenty of research that backs up the idea that prevention works. We know that teaching youth refusal and other social skills reduces underage drinking rates in a community. We know that parents who talk to their children about alcohol make a significant difference. We know that anti-underage drinking community norms make a difference in prevention. As our society's change and become more alike, it's important to remember that old ways of prevention and harm reduction may need to be re-assessed and updated.

Blog about using technology for prevention

Technology in Prevention is a blog for those of us who want to explore ways to use the Internet and other new technologies for drug/alcohol prevention. It describes itself as, "A virtual how-to hotspot for people who want to connect, inquire, discuss and learn to put technology solutions to work for prevention and social change."

Have you wondered what the following terms mean and how you may be able to use them:

Twitter

Flickr

Delicious

The blog provide information about what these, and other tools, are and how we can use them as part of community prevention strategies. Check it out: www.technologyinprevention.blogspot.com.

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.

Free Prevention Workshops

The Washington State Tobacco Prevention Resource Center offers many free trainings for the prevention community.

Among the upcoming trainings being offered in western Washington that would help with underage drinking prevention, as well as tobacco prevention, are:

Strategies for Community Level Prevention & Change -- Dennis Embry of the PAXIS Institute will be the trainer. He is an expert on low-cost, evidence-based prevention "kernels" that have been proven to influence behavior;

Motivational Interviewing -- a style of interacting founded on the belief that people are more persuaded by what they hear themselves say than by what someone else says or tells them to do;

The Impact of Stereotypes on Ethnically Diverse Groups -- exploring how people have been socialized to think about differences and to increase understanding of how oppressive experiences shape the racial identity of people of color.

It's easy to register online . . . register soon, though. Trainings usually fill up quickly!

Free parenting workshops!

Free Guiding Good Choices parenting workshops will be offered throughout the winter and spring of 2009 in northeast Seattle. Thanks to the University Family YMCA, Children's Hospital, and Seattle Public Schools, we are able to sponsor the workshops at different times and places.

Guiding Good Choices is an evidence-based substance abuse prevention program for parents of children in grades 4-8. It was developed by J. David Hawkins and Richard Catalano of the University of Washington's Social Development Research Group.

While these workshops are for families living in zip codes 98105, 98115, and 98125 and/or who have a child attending Eckstein Middle School, if space is available, other families may register, as well.

Visit www.PreventionWorksInSeattle.org for more information.