2015 NC YRBS High School Results Are Available
The 2015 North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results have been released. You can find summary graphs and trends on the North Carolina Healthy Schools website.
December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
The holiday season is a time full of parties and festivities, but that also means more impaired drivers are on the roadways. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers a variety of tools you can use to promote safety during the holiday season. Check out their resources today!
Teenage Behavior Influenced by Video Games?
Experts from the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at The University of Nottingham have carried out the first ever analysis of best-selling video games to find out the extent to which the games include this content and to assess the link between playing the games and drinking and smoking behavior. They found that teenagers who play video games featuring alcohol and tobacco references appeared to be directly influenced because they were twice as likely to have tried smoking or drinking themselves. Click here for more in this research study
New Resource for Families
The Family Resource Center is a compilation of the best-known and recognized resources to help parents and caring loved ones prevent drug or alcohol use, intervene early, find treatment and support adolescents and young adults in addiction recovery. Included resources are backed by various degrees of scientific support and represent those that come from the most notable, national sources, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. By organizing and vetting these quality resources, the Treatment Research Institute hopes to relieve families of the burden of sorting and evaluating…
Have You Heard About Alcohol Vaping?
If you look online, you might come to the conclusion that people have given up drinking. Instead, everyone seems to be going crazy over vaping alcohol. Dr. Alfred Aleguas of the Florida Poison Information Center at Tampa General Hospital says smoking or vaping your booze is not great for you: “Absolutely as bad as drinking, maybe worse,” he says. That’s because the vapor or fumes go straight into your lungs—without taking a detour through your stomach, intestines, and liver. Avoiding those organs allows the alcohol to absorb more quickly without being metabolized. In other words, “You have really no clue…
PDMPs Linked to Reductions in Opioid Overdose Deaths
New research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that state implementation of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) was associated with a reduction in opioid-related overdose deaths. The study, published in Health Affairs, also found that PDMPs that monitored greater numbers of drugs with abuse potential and updated their data more frequently had greater declines in opioid-related overdose deaths than programs without those characteristics. Click HERE for more on this story
See You at PITA IX
We are excited to present PITA IX. This is an opportunity to: connect with prevention providers across the state get an updates from the field, and receive training. Here is the full agenda for the day: NCSAPPA PITA IX Agenda If you haven’t done some already, register today!
Register Today for the PITA IX Conference
It’s that time of year. Register today for the PITA IX Conference
SAMHSA Announces a $30,000 Opioid Recovery App Challenge
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is announcing a new challenge to help to spur developers to create a mobile application (app) that provides additional recovery support to patients receiving treatment for opioid misuse. The app may be used as part of a patient’s comprehensive treatment plan that includes counseling and participation in social support programs. The goal of this challenge is to increase access to resources, educational materials, information and support for people in outpatient recovery from opioid misuse. Click here for more information
Public Health Leaders Urge Far-Reaching Reforms to Curb Prescription Opioid Epidemic
A group of experts, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, issued recommendations aimed at stemming the prescription opioid epidemic, a crisis that kills an average of 44 people a day in the U.S. The report calls for changes to the way medical students and physicians are trained, prescriptions are dispensed and monitored, first responders are equipped to treat overdoses, and those with addiction are identified and treated. The report, titled “The Prescription Opioid Epidemic: An Evidence-Based Approach,” breaks its recommendations into seven categories: Prescribing Guidelines Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)…