On Saturday, August 8, the Senate voted to pass the Continuing Resolution (90-6), which contained a provision to delay the provisions in Public Law 119-37, which would have put restrictions on the hemp industry starting November 12, 2026, closing the Hemp Loophole. The restrictions included in Public Law 119-37 preciously passed the Senate in a 76-24 vote. The provision in the C.R. that was voted on August 8 has further delayed these restrictions until December 11, 2026.

At the inaugural DEA Fentanyl Free America Summit in July, coinciding with CADCA’s Mid-Year Training Institute, leading experts discussed how traffickers are exploiting the internet to reach vulnerable patients and young people. Here’s what coalition leaders need to know about the latest threats.

Coalitions can have a good strategy on paper, but what determines whether it actually changes outcomes is implementation, the day-to-day work of putting that strategy into practice. That was the focus of the Competencies in Focus: Implementation webinar, the 13th session in CADCA’s 18-part Coalition Competencies webinar series, presented in partnership with the Center for Public Health Systems Science (CPHSS) at Washington University in St. Louis.

At the 2026 Mid-Year Training Institute, one session tackled a question that every coalition eventually runs into: how do you actually know if your prevention work is making a difference?

Nearly 2,500 attendees, including 365 youth, gathered at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida, from July 12-16 for CADCA's 25th Annual Mid-Year Training Institute, a milestone anniversary for one of the prevention field's longest-running training conferences. 

For more than 40 years, Beverly Watts Davis has worked at nearly every level of the substance misuse prevention field, as an elected official, a federal agency Executive, a nonprofit Executive, and as a mentor to coalition leaders across the country. This year, CADCA is honoring her decades of service with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Annual Mid-Year Training Institute in Orlando, FL.  

Every July, coalition leaders, prevention specialists, and youth advocates from across the country pack their bags for CADCA’s Mid-Year Training Institute. And every year, they leave with more than a conference tote bag. They leave with tools they can put to use immediately. 

In the rural stretches of northern Nevada, where the nearest specialty clinic can be hours away and transportation is a constant barrier, Frontier Community Coalition (FCC) has spent more than four decades supporting its communities through prevention, recovery, and youth leadership initiatives.  

Young people aren’t waiting to make a difference. They’re already showing up for their communities. This July, CADCA’s 25th Annual Mid-Year Training Institute gives them the tools, training, and connections to lead prevention work in their homes and schools.  

CADCA today announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has contracted with the organization to host the inaugural Fentanyl Free America Summit alongside CADCA’s 25th Annual Mid-Year Training Institute, taking place July 12-16, 2026, at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. 

Fentanyl remains the leading driver of the nation’s overdose crisis. According to the CDC, preliminary data predicts more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths for the 12-month period ending in November 2025 with synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl, involved in the majority of those deaths. Only 2 milligrams of fentanyl, an amount small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil, can be a lethal dose. 

The only constant in life is change, something that most coalition leaders deal with constantly. And yet, it’s rarely something that they feel fully prepared for. This topic was front and center in CADCA’s Competencies in Focus webinar, which focused on change management. 

Prevention work doesn’t often translate easily into words, especially to people seeing it from the outside. It’s meetings in school cafeterias after hours, community data translated into action plans, and neighbors organizing around issues that are deeply personal. 

Coalitions spend a lot of time thinking about how to reach young people, but what happens when you flip the script and start thinking about how to work with them instead? 

CADCA is proud to welcome the newest members of the National Youth Council (NYC), a select group of young leaders ages 15-18 who are shaping the future of substance misuse prevention.