Coalitions Online

Prescription drugs are being misused and abused at alarming rates throughout the United States. As part of their efforts to address this problem, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is sponsoring a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on September 25. On that day, the DEA will collect potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for destruction at sites nationwide from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Legacy recently announced the call for nominations for the 2010 Community Activist Award.

 

All states and territories have made it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter or higher. Despite these laws, nearly 12,000 people nationwide during 2008 were killed in crashes involving drivers or motorcycle riders with BACs of .08 or higher. That would be equal to about 30 jumbo jets crashing each year.

Congressmen Jack Kingston and Gene Taylor introduced H.R. Bill 5958, which would allow military personnel who are 18 and on active duty to purchase and drink beer and wine at certain locations on military installations. CADCA sent a letter to Congressmen Kingston and Taylor expressing its concerns with the bill and urged them to reconsider moving forward with this legislation.

Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse last week announced the results of its newest report National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents.

A Los Angeles Times commentary written by current Office of National Drug Control Policy Director R. Gil Kerlikowske, as well as predecessors John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez and William Bennett, published this week explains why Californians should "just say no" to Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana, which is on this November's ballot.

Hispanic-American adults use drugs and alcohol less frequently than the general population, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Are you struggling to stay up-to-date with the latest research in the field of substance abuse and coalition building? The most successful coalitions generate population-level changes when they base their action plans on evidence-based strategies. In order to keep pace with the dynamic substance abuse field, coalitions must be prepared to adapt their policies and strategies to the latest research.

20 youth from Alexandria, Va. spent their summer vacation as youth "mappers," and that doesn't mean they were cartographers, but rather, field researchers who collected data to "map out" potential opportunities to create a healthy environment for youth.

On Sept. 21, CADCA is hosting the 12th Annual Drug-Free Kids Campaign Awards Dinner at the Westin Hotel in Alexandria, Va.

Youth exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines declined by 48 percent between 2001 and 2008, according to a new study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Now that social media and social media marketing are becoming a mainstay of coalition communications how do we know what's working, not working and where to adjust? The CADCA National Coalition Institute's webinar series on social media will continue August 25 at 3 p.m. EDT focusing on metrics and measures for tracking your coalition’s social media success. The session is the fifth in a six-part series on how coalitions can incorporate social media into their communications/marketing plan.

CADCA was able to issue more than 400 2010 Leadership Forum refunds for registrants who were unable to attend the event during the historic blizzard. Our efforts were successful due to the detailed background information provided by registrants. Despite CADCA's publicized efforts to submit claims to our insurance company, some coalitions didn't make the deadline. Acting on our coalitions' behalf, CADCA asked our insurance agency to reopen our claim and we were successful with a new deadline of Aug. 31, 2010.

While Institute training sessions help coalition leaders design targeted plans of action, the next step in the process is ensuring that this information is communicated effectively to other coalition members and the community. True population-level change occurs when all members of a coalition effort are fully informed and knowledgeable of effective strategies to address substance abuse problems.

Virginia's SAFE Coalition has received the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors 2010 National Exemplary Award for Innovative Substance Abuse Prevention Programs, Practices, and Policies for decreasing lifetime inhalant use among eighth-graders in their county.