Clearinghouse expands video library

The Washington State Alcohol & Drug Clearinghouse recently expanded their video lending library. They are also in the process of streaming video clips to their website. The Clearinghouse is a great resource for prevention materials.

Coalition partnerships key to success of Guiding Good Choices

"When it comes to preventing drug and alcohol abuse, there is no one-fits-all approach. It takes solutions that are based on a community's unique problems and circumstances," states CADCA's website. The Prevention WINS coalition is based on this premise: that drug and alcohol problems are different in every community and, therefore, need to be addressed differently in each community by the community.

The implementation of Guiding Good Choices in northeast Seattle is a perfect example of how effective communities can be when we come together. Four years ago, Prevention WINS identified a lack of parental monitoring of teenage children as a factor contributing to underage drinking in northeast Seattle. Using local data as a guide, the coalition chose to implement Guiding Good Choices (GGC), an evidence-based parenting curriculum, to address the needs of our community.

Since then, three organizations have done a great job at offering GGC to parents: Children's Hospital, the University Family YMCA, and Seattle Public Schools. They are a perfect example of what coalition work is really about -- community members coming together and each taking on a role to prevent underage drinking and youth substance use.

Carding everyone

Starting next month, everyone who wants to purchase alcohol in Indiana will need to show identification, regardless of age.

New national council on prevention and health promotion

Earlier this month, President Obama signed an executive order creating a National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council. The council will be made up of top administration officials, including the Director of National Drug Control Policy. The council's purpose includes coordination among departments and agencies concerned with prevention, wellness, and health promotion and the development of an integrated health-care strategy that incorporates prevention as a way to improve the health status of Americans.

Why join a substance abuse prevention coalition?

Why do community members get involved in substance abuse prevention coalitions? Check out these short testimonials posted on YouTube by the Circles of San Antonio Community Coalition. A recent CADCA webinar featured their coalition's use of video.

Are parents responsible for underage drinking parties in their homes?

From the New York Times' "Room for Debate": Should Parents Be Jailed When Kids Drink?

As one of the people who commented at the end of the blog points out, the experts who are debating the topic don't all have the same data or research-based understanding of underage drinking and prevention. This is true not only regarding underage drinking but for other drug and alcohol prevention issues. As we, as communities, prepare to engage in debates about prevention, it is essential that we build those debates on what research has shown to be effective. We cannot assume that everyone is aware of how much prevention has evolved and how much more we know now than we did ten years ago. Constant communication and education are needed every step of the way.

Risk taking among teenagers

A recent post on the New York Times' Well blog discusses how it is becoming increasingly common for teenagers to record their often unsafe and unhealthy risky activities and post them online.

According to psychologists interviewed in a recent story on National Public Radio, "Engaging in some risky behavior is not only normal, it's necessary for teenagers . . . It's a tool to define, develop and consolidate their identity. Healthy risk-taking is a big part of growth."

They go on to define healthy risk taking: "Sports and developing artistic and creative abilities -- be it through art or theater -- are all activities that involve healthy levels of risk taking. Teens can engage in volunteer activities, and even Internet activities. It can be as simple -- and as scary -- as getting up on stage, or asking somebody out."

Sometimes, teenage risk taking can take the form of alcohol and drug use. Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) provides information about ways to promote healthy risk taking. Teenagers who participate in safe and healthy risk taking are less likely to drink alcohol or use drugs.

Petitions not to sign

Click here to see a list of initiatives that may appear on November's Washington ballot and that the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) asks you not to sign.

Bullying and youth substance use prevention

The Sunday, June 13, 2010 edition of the Seattle Times includes an opinion piece about bullying prevention by a researcher with the Social Development Research Group. In it, two online resources are listed:

1. the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project,

2. the Communities That Care prevention system.

Why am I listing these on a blog about youth substance use prevention? Because programs listed on the Blueprints website and Communities That Care (CTC) are also used for substance abuse prevention. In fact, the CTC model is similar to the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) that most anti-drug coalitions use.

Freakonomics on prevention

A recent post on the Freakonomics blog questions the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention programs.

Do school-based prevention programs work?
The author begins with, "A large body of research has shown that the vast majority of [school-based] programs have largely been ineffective . . . only six of 52 high-quality programs have been able to show results." Though stated in the negative, this means that we know of six school-based programs that are effective, Life Skills Training being one of them. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work," when discussing his many attempts to create a working light-bulb. We can use what we know does work by implementing tested and effective programs and building on them.

The same goes for the author's pronouncement that only a few parenting programs and social norms marketing campaigns work.

What about alcohol advertising?
On the positive side, the author notes, " . . . some studies, particularly those that track subjects over time, have shown that less [alcohol] advertising does work, particularly for the young . . . " He goes on to state, "However, we are unlikely to see less advertising, particularly if we wait for the alcohol industry to take the lead; self-regulation initiatives have not led to results in the past. Ironically, responsible drinking education programs produced by the alcohol industry have been shown to sometimes have the exact opposite of the (presumably) intended effect: they actually promote positive views about alcohol and its makers."