1)
MONITORING THE FUTURE SURVEY FINDS TEEN DRUG USE DOWN
Drug use among America’s youth has decreased steadily
in 2002, compared to 2001, according to the latest results of the Monitoring
the Future survey. The survey, conducted by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse, asked students in 8th, 10th and 12th grades about their
drug use, and found use of club drugs like ecstasy, marijuana, cigarettes
and alcohol decreased over last year. The decrease in illicit drug use
among 8th graders sustains a decline that began in 1997. The drop from
2001 to 2002 is the first significant decline among 10th graders since
1998. In addition, use of ecstasy, which had been on the increase in
recent years, fell.
To read the entire
study, or to find out more information, visit
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Newsroom/02/NR12-16.html.
2)
GEORGETOWN STUDY SAYS TEENS SEE FLOOD OF BEER ADS ON TV
Teens see more television
ads for beer than for sneakers, gum or jeans, according to the latest
report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown
University. Teens saw almost 25%, or more than 51,000 of the 209,909
alcohol commercials on television in 2001. Researchers say beer and
ale advertising exceeded the advertising delivered to youth audiences
for fruit juices, gum, skin care products, sneakers, soft drinks and
jeans.
The study also found
that one-fourth of the alcohol ads last year were placed on shows that
were more likely to be seen by underage viewers than by adults of legal
drinking age. Five networks routinely exposed youth to alcohol advertising:
WB, UPN, Comedy Central, BET and VH-1, according to the study.
To read the report,
visit http://camy.org/research/tv1202.
3)
NHTSA BEGINS AGGRESSIVE CRACKDOWN ON DRUNK/DRUGGED DRIVING
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) kicked off its longest-ever national campaign,
“You Drink & Drive. You Lose,” in partnership with ONDCP,
MADD, AAA and state and local law enforcement agencies. Thousands of
law enforcement officers will be conducting sobriety checkpoints and
patrols across the country during the holiday season. Officials say
the checkpoints will be set up with no warning, and officers will take
no excuses if drivers are found to be impaired while driving.
NHTSA yesterday released
the State Alcohol Related Fatality Rates Report, which found a significant
rise in the number of fatal alcohol related crashes. For the first time,
the report documents the extent of alcohol related fatalities in traffic
crashes from 1982 to 2001.
To view the report,
visit www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
4)
$5 MILLION AVAILABLE FOR “PATHS TO RECOVERY”
A new initiative
by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will award approximately $5 million
to treatment programs nationwide as part of the “Paths to Recovery:
Changing the Process of Care for Substance Abuse.” The initiative’s
goal is to help treatment programs simplify and improve their organization’s
processes. The Paths to Recovery will provide information and training
to the field on process improvement strategies and how they relate to
access and engagement challenges; fund up to 20 treatment programs to
design and implement improvement strategies; and share with the field
the successes and challenges experienced by those programs.
Brief proposals
can be submitted online between January 3 and February 10, 2003. Find
out more information at www.pathstorecovery.org.
5)
CAL STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM ANNOUNCES WAR ON ALCOHOL ABUSE
California Governor Gray
Davis and the California State University (CSU) system announced a major
program to reduce the negative impact of alcohol on CSU campuses this
week, one of the largest higher education systems in the nation. A $1.57
million federal grant will result in a comprehensive education, prevention
and enforcement campaign and start in eight CSU campuses. Each campus
will receive mini-grants of up to $50,000 to develop on-campus programs
regarding alcohol abuse. Eventually, all 23 CSU campuses will be included,
reaching more than 400,000 students.
Officials say the
partnership will develop relationships with local community groups,
student organizations and anti-alcohol and drug coalitions to set guidelines
and goals in reducing student alcohol-related programs. For more information,
contact Colleen Bentley-Adler at 562-951-4801 or cbentley-adler@calstate.edu.
6)
NIDA PROVIDES FUNDING FOR ADOLESCENT RESEARCH, SERVICES
The National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA) is now accepting applications for funding that supports
research into treatment of adolescent addiction. The money can be used
to provide services as well as conducting basic research.
Applicants for the Improving
Behavioral Health Services and Treatment for Adolescent Drug Abuse grants
are encouraged to investigate ways to broaden youth access to treatment;
examine improvements in treatment delivery, including the breadth, integration,
and targeting of services for adolescents at different developmental
stages in both their own maturation and their drug use and treatment
careers, develop, modify, or test behavioral treatments, or combined
behavioral and pharmacological treatments, targeting adolescent drug
users, and analyze strategies for translating effective clinical treatments
into effective community interventions.
Five to eight grants, totaling
about $2 million, will be awarded. Funds will be awarded through the
National Institute on Health's research project grant. Letters of intent
are due March 14, 2003; applications are due April 14, 2003.
For more information,
contact Gary Fleming at 301-443-6710 or e-mail gfleming@mail.nih.gov.
7)
SCHOOL PREVENTION PROGRAM WORKS WITH INNER CITY YOUTH, STUDY SAYS
School-based substance abuse
prevention programs that take place in inner city middle schools have
proven to be effective, according to a study released from the Institute
for Prevention Research at Cornell University. The intervention program,
known as LifeSkills Training (LST), was implemented to teach drug resistance
skills, norms against substance abuse and other skills to mostly poor,
inner-city youth.
Researchers found those students
who took part in the intervention were less likely to smoke, drink or
use inhalants after a one-year follow up assessment.
To find out more
about LifeSkills training, or the study, visit www.med.cornell.edu/ipr.
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