Visit http://drugfreenj.org/statewide_media_campaign/ for more information on this important campaign.
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NJPN : Join us on March 5, 2010 for our Annual Addiction Conference!
21 Reasons to Keep the Drinking Age 21In the NewsAlcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News
__________________________________________________________________ APRIL IS ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH NJPN 9th Annual Prevention Conference _________________________________________________________ 2007-2008 NEWS In its seventh year, NCADD-New Jersey is again pleased to release its annual voter education tools inclusive of an election guide, candidate survey, as well as internet access to Decision 2007 survey results and guide. These tools represent efforts to identify key issues affecting addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery and to educate the public about where candidates seeking their vote in November stand on these issues. |
NCADD-NJ LAUNCHES STREAMING VIDEO OF 2006 RECOVERY WALK CELEBRATION
Over the past five years, New Jersey’s addiction Recovery Walk has matured into an annual event that many of the state’s recovering residents greet expectantly. An afternoon when speeches, tinged with tears or lightened with humor, ultimately celebrated the many redeemed lives present, when music moved the entire crowd to sway or sing, when an assembly of people too often left on the outside had a clear sense of belonging.
http://www.ncaddnjvideo.org/video/2006WalkFinal.wmv
Whether you were part of the days festivites or not, watch the video and be inspired by the celebration.
8 in 10 New Jersey Middle School Principals Believe Their Opinions Play an Important Role in Their Students’ Not Using DrugsNEW JERSEY— New Jersey Middle School Principals believe New Jersey Middle School Students are staying away from drugs with the help of their school teachers and principals.
A survey of New Jersey Middle School Principals conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey Center for Prevention Research (PDFNJ CPR), administered by Roper Public Affairs and Media, New York City, an international leader in consumer research, found that 81% of New Jersey Middle School Principal’s believe their opinions and those of their teachers play an important role in their students’ decision not to use drugs. The survey, released July 20, 2007 was conducted from October 30th through December 18th of 2006 among 203 New Jersey Middle School Principals statewide. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
The CPR found that teachers and principal’s attitudes and opinions play an important role in their students’ decision not to use drugs. “Teachers and principals are role models for children, and like their parents, they have a large impact on the attitudes of their students regarding drug and alcohol use. This survey confirms that parents, teachers and principals play an important role in prevention, which reinforces the message that PDFNJ has championed since its inception over 15 years ago,” explained Joseph Miele, chairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.
The CPR study also found that New Jersey Middle School Principals believe alcohol and marijuana to be the drugs of choice among their students. Majorities of 6 in 10 principals believe students start using alcohol and marijuana before ninth grade. Angelo Valente, Executive Director of the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey and a founding member of New Jersey’s Childhood Drinking Coaliton added, “This finding is particularly alarming because according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) use of alcohol at an early age can cause problems later in life. SAMSHA found that children who drink alcohol before age 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol problems as adults than those who first drink at age 21 or older.”
CPR survey findings indicated that New Jersey Middle School Principals believe prescription drugs to be the third most abused substance in their schools, with abuse more than twice that of Ecstasy and cocaine. “Unfortunately this study confirms that New Jersey is consistant with national trends in the rise of the use of prescription drugs and this is certainly an area that parents and educators need to continue to address.” according to Peter Silsbee,Vice President, Roper Public Affairs.
Nearly all of the principals participating in the study (92%) say that substance abuse prevention programming is a priority at their schools, and half indicate it is a high priority. These same principals indicate that they utilize the substance abuse prevention resources available in the state, including the free programs and services offered by the PDFNJ. Two-thirds of the principals also indicated that they found funding for prevention insufficient, and one-third say funding is a lot less than they would like.
Survey results also indicate that 9 in 10 (93%) principals believe that drugs are a serious problem in the state of New Jersey, more than 8 in 10 (85%) believe drugs are a serious problem in their specific county, while 2 in 10 (18%) of the responding principals reported drugs are a serious problem in their schools.
February 11, 2007 BACKGROUND In his fiscal year 2008 budget request, President Bush recommended cutting the State Grants portion of the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) program by $255 million despite the fact that it has historically served as the backbone of school based substance abuse prevention and intervention efforts in the United States and has had a significant impact on helping to achieve the 23% overall decline in youth drug use over the past five years. If Congress implements this draconian cut, the majority of school based prevention infrastructures currently in place will be decimated and many of the 37 million youth who are served annually by programs funded through SDFSC will no longer receive the prevention education they need. Costs associated with drug, alcohol and tobacco use add 10% - or $41 billion - to the already strained budgets of schools across the nation. $355 million for the SDFSC program is minimal when compared to these costs. We cannot afford to see the SDFSC program reduced. For FY 2008, we are asking Congress to restore $355 million to the program, which was last year’s funding level under the FY 2007 Continuing Resolution.
WHAT YOU CAN DO Using CADCA’s CapWiz system, fax the members of your congressional delegation. The members of the House and Senate will be submitting their top appropriations priorities to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Appropriations Subcommittees in the next several weeks. It is imperative that you flood your members with faxes to ensure that restoring the funding for this critical program is one of their top appropriations priorities. YOUR FAX WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE! The more letters the Hill receives on this issue, the more likely we are to stop this program from being eliminated. After you have faxed the members of your congressional delegation, send this alert to everyone else in your network. TIMING Fax the members of your congressional delegation immediately to ask them to make restoration of the funds for the SDFSC program one of their top priorities during the appropriations process. CADCA will continue to monitor the SDFSC program as the appropriations process moves forward and will alert you when further action must be taken. CADCA’s fax system allows you to automatically fax CADCA’s sample letter on this issue to your legislators from CADCA's website. To send faxes to your legislators, go to http://capwiz.com/cadca/home/. If you would like to personalize your letter with examples from your community, please email dkurosky@cadca.org for a MS Word version of the sample letter. | ||||||||||||
Below you will find a flyer for the January clergy training that will be conducted by Prevention First on underage drinking. The purpose of the training is to educate clergy as to the problem of underage drinking in New Jersey, and brainstorm ways they can partner with us in getting the word out to parents and youth in order to reduce the incidences of youth drinking around the county. If you know clergy or youth ministers yourselves, please give this to them and encourage their attendance. Thank you!
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Recent incidents of Teen deaths related to drinking and driving reported over the holidays.
(This is why we need to keep educating and getting the word out.....)
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