CADCA

CADCA’s
Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Initiative

OVERVIEW
Prescription drug misuse and addiction is a growing problem in the United States. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), an estimated 9 million people aged 12 and older used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons in 1999; more than a quarter of that number reported using prescription drugs nonmedically for the first time in the previous year. This dangerous trend must be addressed and reversed to prevent further harm to individuals impacted by the problem. There are a number of programs being developed to: 1) assist medical professionals in identifying misuse and abuse among their patients, 2) educate pharmacists regarding enforcement of regulations regarding prescriptions, and 3) inform parents and other adults about the risk of abuse of prescription drugs by youth. However, additional attention must be paid to the development of comprehensive, community-wide approaches to address the problem.

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is a national non-profit organization representing more than 5,000 community anti-drug coalitions working to build safe, healthy and drug-free communities. CADCA’s member coalitions have reported an increased concern about the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in their communities.

There is a fundamental need to develop local solutions to local problems. Prescription drug misuse and abuse is not uniform across the country; therefore solutions are needed to reflect the diversity of the communities and the scope and nature of the problem in each community.

GOAL
To reduce the threats caused by prescription drug abuse on individuals, families, and the community.

OBJECTIVES

Increase community coalitions' knowledge about the prescription drug abuse issue. This will be assessed using a pre/post-test survey.
Increase the number of community coalitions that have a prescription drug misuse and abuse prevention initiative. This will be assessed using surveys at two intervals.
Decrease reports of prescription drug abuse in at least 10 communities. This will be assessed using surveys before and after community forums.

PRESS RELEASE

Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Manual Available from CADCA
National anti-drug group contributes to prevention efforts at the local level

RESOURCES

1. Strategizer 38: Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention - Where Do We Go From Here? The goal of Strategizer 38 is to address communities'concerns about this issue, regardless of what stage the community is at programmatically. Specifically, it will:

Answer critical questions about prescription drug abuse;
Furnish information on promising practices; and
Arm coalitions with additional resources.

Click here for a pdf version of Strategizer 38

2. CADCA's Prescription Drug Abuse Community Initiative Survey

To further gauge the scope and nature of the prescription drug misuse and abuse problem at the local level and to ascertain what coalitions are doing to address it, CADCA conducted a Prescription Drug Abuse Community Initiative Survey in October 2001.

The Prescription Drug Abuse Community Initiative Survey was designed to assess the awareness of the field about the issue, determine the depth of the problem in communities, and evaluate the progress communities are making in reducing and preventing prescription drug misuse, abuse, and addiction. This report summarizes the findings from the survey and discusses recommendations for the field to focus the local, state, and national efforts underway to address this emerging problem.

PDA Final Survey (.pdf)

3. CADCA Satellite Broadcast: Prescription Drugs: Misuse, Abuse, and Addiction.

4. Would you like to start a coalition in your neighborhood? Click here for more information.

LINKS

URL	DESCRIPTION
NIDA's Prescription Drug Abuse Initiative	NIDA's website includes a variety of resources about prescription drug abuse including a webcast, press releases, research reports, notes and other links.
prescriptionabuse.org	PrescriptionAbuse.org is an online resource for prescription drug abusers and their families. This site focuses on education, hope, and recovery for prescription drug abusers and their families.

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