SAMHSA Announces Availability of New Drug-Free Workplace Kit

Source: SAMHSA News Release 4/28/08
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has developed a Drug-Free Workplace Kit, suitable for all sizes of workplaces. The free kit provides public and private workplaces with practical evidence-based information, resources, and tools for producing and maintaining drug-free workplace policies and programs.

Read the entire Press release.

To access and download the online version of the kit, go to http://www.workplace.samhsa.gov/WPWorkit/index.html

The NSDUH Report: State Estimates of Persons Aged 18 or Older Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or Illicit Drugs

SAMHSA’s Office of Applied Studies (OAS) has just released a 3 page short report based on data from the SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH) that provides the relative percentages among the States of adults who reported that in the past year they drove under the influence of alcohol or an illicit drug

Available at : http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/stateDUI/stateDUI.cfm

2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data available online

The 2007 BRFSS Annual Survey Data and 2007 BRFSS Prevalence Data are now available on CDC’s BRFSS website.

New Findings on Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use Among Underage Drinkers

Source: SAMHSA eNetwork, 4/11/2008
In 2006, a majority (53.9 percent) of American adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 20 had used an alcoholic beverage at least once in their lifetime. Young people aged 12 to 20 consumed approximately 11.2 percent of the alcoholic drinks consumed in the United States in the past month by persons aged 12 or older. Research shows that underage drinkers tend to consume more alcohol per occasion than those over the legal minimum drinking age of 21.
The following are brief findings from the report:

Combined 2005 and 2006 data indicate that an annual average of 28.3 percent of persons aged 12 to 20 in the United States (an estimated 10.8 million persons annually) drank alcohol in the past month.

Past-month alcohol users aged 12 to 20 drank on an average of 5.9 days in the past month and consumed an average of 4.9 drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month.
Underage drinkers aged 12 to 20 consumed, on average, more drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month than persons aged 21 or older (4.9 vs. 2.8 drinks).

Download NSDUH Report:
Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers (256 KB)
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/underage/underage.pdf

Featured Web Site : Anabolic Steroid Abuse

Source: NIH News in Health, April 2008
Anabolic Steroid Abuse Anabolic steroid abuse by professional athletes has been all over the news. Concerns about body image and athletic performance may lead teens, as well as adult men and women, to use steroids. This site was designed by NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse to alert the public to the fact that these are dangerous drugs.

Visit Anabolic Steroid abuse at http://www.steroidabuse.gov/

CSAP Grant: STOP Act

Request for Applications (RFA) No. SP-08-004
Posting on Grants.gov: March 6, 2008
Receipt Date: April 9, 2008
Announcement Type: Initial

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2008 for Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (STOP Act) grants.

The purpose of this program is to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth in communities throughout the United States. It was created to strengthen collaboration among communities, the Federal Government, and state, local and tribal governments; to enhance intergovernmental cooperation and coordination on the issue of alcohol use among youth; to serve as a catalyst for increased citizen participation and greater collaboration among all sectors and organizations of a community that first demonstrates a long-term commitment to reducing alcohol use among youth; and to disseminate to communities timely information regarding state-of-the-art practices and initiatives that have proven to be effective in preventing and reducing alcohol use among youth.

Download the Complete Announcement No. SP-08-004:
Download RFA in Adobe PDF Format  (614 KB)

Funding Mechanism:Grant
Due Date for Applications:April 9, 2008
Anticipated Total Available Funding:$3.93 million
Anticipated Number of Awards:Up to 80
Anticipated Award Amount:Up to $50,000 per year
Length of Project Period:Up to 4 years

New Report Provides Substance Use and Mental Health Information for Each State

Source: SAMHSA News Release, 3/6/2008

New Report Provides Substance Use and Mental Health Information for Each State
Finds Variation in Problems among the States, But That all Face Challenges

A new report providing analyses of substance use and mental health patterns occurring in each state reveals that there are wide variations among the states in problems like illicit drug use and underage drinking, but that no state was immune from these problems. For example, past month use of alcohol among persons aged 12 to 20 (underage use of alcohol) ranged from a low of 21.5 percent in Utah to a high of 38.3 percent in Vermont. Yet Utah had the highest level of people age 18 or older reporting serious psychological distress in the past year (14.4 percent), while Hawaii had the lowest level (8.8 percent).

View the whole press release.
View the report at : http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k6State/toc.cfm

Free Teleconference: Reducing Stigma and Discrimination among People who are LGBT

Source : SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma Associated With Mental Illness
The SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma Associated With Mental Illness invites you to participate in a free teleconference training titled, “Reducing Stigma and Discrimination among People who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT).”

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)
(12:00 PM -1:30 PM Mountain Time)

To register for this training teleconference, please click here for the registration page.

Please note: Registration for this teleconference will close at 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on Monday, March 10, 2008.

$1.2 Million available for community-based drug prevention coalitions

Source: SAMHSA News Release, 2/15/08
$1.2 MILLION AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY-BASED DRUG PREVENTION COALITIONS DFC MENTORING GRANTS TO FUND 15 DRUG-FREE COMMUNITIES (Washington, D.C.) - Today, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced the availability of $1.2 million for new Drug-Free Communities Support Mentoring Program (DFC Mentoring) grants. An estimated 15 new Mentoring grants will be awarded (averaging $75,000 per grant, per year) to drug and alcohol prevention community coalitions representing a cross-section of rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities.

View the whole press release here.
View the grant ap and requirements here.

Bush’s 2009 Budget Cuts $198 Million from SAMHSA

Source: Jointogether.com News Feature, 2/8/2008
Drug-prevention advocates and others are raising the alarm over President Bush’s FY2009 budget plan, which slashed $198 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and calls for elimination of the Recovery Community Support Programs and the STOP Underage Drinking program.

The budget also calls for spending $10 million less on the Drug Free Communities program, a major funding source for many community anti-drug coalitions. “The majority of programs that our field advocates for were recommended for severe cuts,” noted Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America in an action alert calling for supporters to contact lawmakers to oppose the cuts. “Only a very small handful of programs were recommended for increases.

Overall, the budget plans calls for increasing defense spending by at least $32 billion, foreign operations by $5.4 billion, and law enforcement and prosecution efforts by $497 million. “The budget invests substantial and needed resources to maintain high levels of military readiness and to continue the transformation of our military to meet the new threats of the 21st Century,” Bush said in his budget message to Congress.

Read the rest of the News Feature.