SAMHSA News email subscription

SAMHSA News is the national newsletter of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  It is available for subscription in print or online.   The newsletter and back issues can be accessd at http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsaNewsletter/ .

Tree-free, online subscriptions are now nicely formatted and easy to browse and access articles of interest.

The  Sept Oct 2009 (vol 17:5) issue focuses on Recovery.  Additional stories are available related to:

• Treatment
• Suicide
• Grants
• Communications
• Recovery Month
• New Survey Data
• Prevention
• Special Populations

Visit the SAMHSA News Homepage
Read or print SAMHSA Newsletter for Sept/Oct 2009 as a pdf

Source: SAMHSA eNetwork and others

Most military service members and veterans who see combat will not experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, or depression or have thoughts of suicide as a result of their experiences. For those who do have mental health and substance abuse needs, for their families, and for service providers, SAMHSA is dedicated to offering a variety of resources.

Selected SAMHSA Resources:

• Veterans Resource Guide (pdf)
• SAMHSA Veteran Resources Web Site

Available for Loan at the PIC:

PIC has a small collection of resources specifically related to veterans and active military as well as wide variety of information for prevention and treatment of: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, depression, and suicide.

Source: Summit Daily News, 11/3/09

Breckenridge residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and paraphernalia under town law. Unofficial results show 71 percent of voters approved the initiative.

“We’re done with the days people could laugh off marijuana reform,” said Sean McAllister, Breckenridge attorney and chair of reform group Sensible Breckenridge. “I believe the implicit implications are that we should have a dialogue about taxing marijuana.”

Tuesday’s vote means that effective Jan. 1, people 21 and up in Breckenridge will be able to legally possess one ounce or less of the drug. Possession remains illegal under state law, but Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman said his department will “still have the ability to exercise discretion.”

Click here to read the rest of the article

Source: CESAR FAX, 18(41), 10/19/2009

Youths whose parents set clear rules for them are less likely to report using illicit drugs, according to data from the 2008-09 PRIDE Survey. Middle and high school students* whose parents set clear rules for them “a lot” or “often” were less likely to report using illicit drugs in the past year (12% and 21%, respectively) than students whose parents never set clear rules (49%). Similar results were found for having parents who punish them for breaking these rules (data not shown). Previous studies have found that youths living in households where parents kept track of their whereabouts and set curfews were less likely to report heavy drinking (see CESAR FAX, Volume 17, Issue 31).

Source: MMWR Weekly,58(40); 1125-1126,  10/16/2009

Motor-vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death and the fourth leading cause of injury-related emergency department visits among teens aged 15–19 years. In 2007, approximately 4,200 teens in this age group died and an estimated 387,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained in motor-vehicle crashes in the United States (1,2). To reduce morbidity and mortality, 49 states and the District of Columbia have adopted three-stage graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems. GDL systems provide longer practice periods, restrict unsupervised driving during the initial independent driving stage, and require greater participation of parents in their teen’s learning-to-drive process. These systems have reduced the collision risk for novice teen drivers by 20%–40% (3).

This year, National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 18–24, highlights the importance of parents supervising their teen’s driving and establishing and enforcing rules of the road. Teens whose parents initially limit driving privileges have fewer traffic citations and collisions than teens whose parents do not restrict driving privileges (4). To increase awareness of the importance of parents in managing teen driver behavior and educating teens about high-risk activities that lead to motor-vehicle crashes, CDC has developed a communication campaign targeting the parents of novice teen drivers. The Parents Are the Key campaign is being pilot tested in central Arkansas and Columbus, Ohio. The campaign encourages parents to learn about and ensure that their teen adheres to their state’s GDL system requirements, establish rules of the road that limit novice teens’ nighttime driving and driving under other risky conditions, and enforce the rules with a parent-teen contract.

Information about teen driver safety and National Teen Driver Safety Week are available from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/teen_drivers/index.html, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at http://stokes.chop.edu/programs/injury/our_research/ydri.php.

References

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) encyclopedia. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 2009. Available at http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov. Accessed October 13, 2009.
2. CDC. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2009. Available athttp://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Accessed October 13, 2009.
3. Shope JT. Graduated driver licensing: review of evaluation results since 2002. J Safety Res 2007;38:165–75.
4. Simons-Morton B. Parent involvement in novice teen driving: rationale, evidence of effects, and potential for enhancing graduated driver licensing effectiveness. J Safety Res 2007;38:193–202.

Source: In The News, 10/15/09

Please see the attached PDF for the latest edition of “In the News”.

In the News is a weekly collection of Mental Health, Alcohol and Substance Abuse prevention articles, announcements, press releases, and publications that you can look forward to receiving every Thursday.

The formatting consist of hyper linked titles (plus date and source) placed in easy to skim categories.

Categories in this issue:

• General Community
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Substances (Other Drugs)
• Violence
• Cultural/Linguistic Competence
• Briefs, Reports, and Publications
• Recommendations/Strategies/Tools
• Health Communication/Promotion/Marketing
• Funding
• Events

Click here to Read: In the News, 10/15/09

Online at: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/sep2009/NS-63.pdf

Articles in this issue:

• Disparities, Variability Found in Methadone Maintenance Dosing Patterns
• Marijuana Prevention Campaigns May Have Undesired Effects on Marijuana Use
• Crack Cocaine Use Hastens Progression of HIV Infection to AIDS
• Few U.S. High Schools Use Evidence-Based Drug Prevention Curricula
• Gene Changes Linked to Nicotine Dependence and Success With Smoking Cessation
• Electronic Diary Captures Moods and Cues Leading to Heroin and Cocaine Use
• Aging Population of Steroid Abusers May Face Underrecognized Health Problems

The 2009 Pride Survey National Summary of adolescent alcohol and drug use shows small, but significant increases in 30-day prevalence for a number of drug categories, and no significant decreases in 30-day use of any drug category measured in grades 6 through 12. These results are based on surveys completed during the 2008-2009 school year.

Most of the increases witnessed were small (less than 1 percent). However, they suggest that decreases in adolescent drug use over the last several years may have come to a halt.

Last week the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released results of the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The 2009 Pride Survey data reflect several of the trends seen in the NSDUH survey, for example increases in ecstasy use and little change in marijuana use among adolescents. However, the Pride Survey data was more recently collected (by at least six months) than the NSDUH data.

Here are some of the key findings of the 2009 Pride Survey National Summary:

Grades 6-8 (ages 11 to 14)

• Increases in 30-prevalence of cigarettes, cigars, any tobacco, beer, marijuana and lifetime prescription drug abuse.
• No significant decreases in 30-day use.

Grades 9-12 (ages 14-18)

• Increases in 30-day prevalence of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, any tobacco, beer, wine coolers, liquor, any alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, heroin, ecstasy, OxyContin, meth and any illicit drug.
• No significant decreases in 30-day use.

Grades 6-12 (ages 11 to 18)

• Increases in 30-prevalence of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, any tobacco, marijuana, ecstasy, OxyContin and lifetime prescription drug abuse.
• No significant decreases in 30-day use.

The 2009 Pride Survey National Summary is based on the responses of 122,243 students selected from 447,532 students who completed the Pride Survey for Grades 6 to 12 during the school year from August 2008 until June 2009. These students, while not drawn through a formal probability sampling process, do represent a broad cross-section of American youth. Results from previous years national summaries have tracked closely with nationwide surveys such as Monitoring the Future.

Full Report

Multimedia presentation

Source: SAMHSA News Release, 9/14/2009

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today awarded $46 million over five years in Partnerships for Success: State and Community Prevention Performance grants. This program is designed to help states and U.S. territories reduce state-wide substance abuse rates by addressing gaps in their current prevention services and increasing their ability to reach out to specific populations or geographic areas with serious, emerging substance abuse problems.

The grants aim to achieve a quantifiable decline in state-wide substance abuse rates by incorporating a strong incentive to grantees that have met or exceeded their prevention performance targets. The grants build on the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), which requires that grantees utilize a five-step, data-driven planning model to ensure that program services address areas of greatest need. The key to the SPF program is that it offers monetary incentives in the form of program expansion supplements to the grantees that succeed in achieving critical performance outcomes by the end of the third year of the five-year program.

“These grants will help provide essential substance abuse prevention services to people and communities that might otherwise not get them,” said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick, D.D.S. , M.P.H. “Partnerships for Success also provides these services in ways offering measurable results and opportunities for developing more effective prevention strategies. ”

SAMHSA is awarding approximately four grants of up to $2.3 million per grantee annually for up to five years. The actual award amounts may vary, depending on the availability of funds and the performance of the grantee. The grants will be administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP).

The four grantees are:

The Colorado Prevention Partnership for Success (CPPS): This project employs a public health model to demonstrate positive statewide change among 12-17 year olds in underage and binge drinking rates and in the binge drinking disparity for Latino youth. The CPPS will continue to integrate the Strategic Prevention Framework within Colorado’s State Prevention System to ensure measurable and sustainable substance abuse prevention outcomes.

The Illinois Partnerships for Success: Funds from the grant will provide an opportunity for meaningful collaboration between State leaders and community members in order to build capacity for substance abuse prevention with a focus on underage drinking. In Illinois, 34.3 percent of youth of ages 13-18 drink alcohol on a regular basis, compared to 28.1 percent of their peers in the U.S. overall. Their goal is to reduce the high school (10th grade through 12th grade) 30-day use rate from 40.6 percent to 35 percent by 2012.

The Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS): As the Single State Agency for substance abuse and mental health services, DMHAS has been designated by the Governor’s Office to lead the Connecticut Partnerships for Success (CT PFS) Initiative. This Initiative seeks to: 1) achieve a quantifiable decline in statewide substance abuse rates; 2) demonstrate a capacity to reduce substance abuse problems; and 3) achieve specific performance targets and program level outcomes.

The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services (DADAS): DADAS will use its Partnerships for Success funds to reduce alcohol binge drinking among the state’s 14-25 year olds. Tennessee’s Partnership for Success Project has a goal of reversing the state’s upward trend in binge drinking by decreasing the total number of 14-25 year olds who engage in binge drinking within any 30-day period by 4.3 percent over the five-year grant period.

For additional information about SAMHSA grants go to http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/