Hearing about “Molly” in Your Community?
According to CNN, Molly has been a popular drug at music festivals this year. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, molly is the powder or crystal form of MDMA — or 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a chemical drug most commonly known for its use in the pressed pill Ecstasy. You may just be hearing about “Molly”, but she’s been around for a few years and is growing in popularity amoung youth and POP/Hip Hop music culture.
Guidelines for Advocacy
There is significant evidence that the most effective approaches to the prevention of alcohol and other substance abuse problems are those that seek to change the environment within which these problems take place. It should not be a surprise that these approaches often involve advocating for legislative public policy changes. Strategizer 31 clarifies what constitutes lobbying activities for nonprofit organizations and to what extent these organizations can participate in lobbying activities in particular and the legislative process in general.
Children of Military Families at Increased Risk for Substance Use
In a paper published in the journal Addiction, researchers report that children of military families have a higher risk for alcohol and other substance use than do their peers in nonmilitary families. On the basis of their findings, the researchers suggest that schools and health care providers consider parental military deployment as an opportunity to provide early intervention and screening for substance abuse for young people in military families. The researchers’ data indicated that substance use overall was higher among those in the currently deployed or recently returned groups than in the nonmilitary group. Deployment often means that children…
Family Physicians Group Offers Doctors Online Tools for Addiction Treatment
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in cooperation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is offering its members online tools to help them care for patients and families struggling with addiction. The tools include the Addiction Performance Project, designed to reduce the stigma often associated with addiction, and to help doctors better identify and assist patients who abuse drugs.
CrimeSolutions.gov Offers Research on Program Effectiveness
The Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov uses rigorous research to determine what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. This website offers: Research on program effectiveness reviewed and rated by Expert Reviewers Easily understandable ratings based on the evidence that indicates whether a program achieves its goals Effective Promising No Effects Substance abuse prevention and education programs aim to prevent individuals, particularly juveniles, from the harmful physical, social, and psychological consequences of drug and alcohol use or abuse. These programs, which may be implemented in communities, schools, faith-based settings, or the home, often seek to educate young…
Brief Intervention Helps Adolescents Curb Substance Use
Drug- and alcohol-involved middle and high school students markedly reduced their substance use following two 60-minute sessions that combined motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy. The students also reported significantly fewer substance-related symptoms of substance use disorders during the 6 months after the intervention compared with the 6 months before it. Adding a separate 1-hour MI-based session with a parent or primary caregiver enhanced the beneficial effects. Continue reading…
Prevention and Promotion Call to Action and Planning Guide
Have you seen the Prevention and Promotion Call to Action and Planning Guide This 174 page document is a month-by-month interactive substance abuse and mental health promotion planning guide for communities. This is an amazing community planning guide with all the resources you need to promote wellness in your community.
Kids Who First Drink During Puberty…
New research shows that youths who first drink during puberty are at greater risk for developing later alcohol problems. “Most teenagers have their first alcoholic drink during puberty. However, most research on the risks of early-onset alcohol use up to now has not focused on the pubertal stage during which the first alcoholic drink is consumed,” said Miriam Schneider, Ph.D., a researcher at the Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, and one of the authors of the new study. Click here for full story…
1 in 5 Parents Think What They Say Has Little Impact…
Parents play an important role in preventing substance use among youths. Because of this, prevention campaigns encourage parents to talk to their children about substance use. However, according to the 2004 to 2011 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, 1 in 5 (22.3 percent) parents of teens aged 12 to 17 thought that what they said would have little influence on whether their child used drugs. Read this report to find our more about parent’s perception and the resource you can provide to help parent talk to their kids about substance abuse