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Analysis of Client Deaths in California Recommends Tougher Counselor Standards New Study Claims Parents Can Judge Teen Substance Use Reality of Relapse Requires Changing to a Chronic Care Approach Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Stands to Lose More Than $40 Million if White House Vetos Spending Bill Parental Behavior Influences Teen Drug Use Briefly Noted State Watch Resources Call for Presentations Coming up     

Say Yes First: follow up of a five-year rural drug prevention program

Say Yes First--To Rural Youth and Family Alcohol/Drug Prevention (SYF) was a 5-year, federally-funded U.S.D.H.H.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) project that involved 859 children in the class of the year 2000. The children in four rural school districts were followed from Grade 4 to Grade 8 from 1991 to 1996. Initial results in a previous publication showed significant lower drug usage in this cohort than comparison students. A follow-up of 120 SYF participants and 136 comparison students in high schools using the National Youth Survey (Follow Up Questionnaire) indicated lower usage of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for the program students and lower lifetime prevalence of marijuana use for program vs. comparison students. SYF students had higher course grades, lower school absenteeism, more positive attitudes toward school, less trouble in school and less negative self-appraisal. Program students also reported greater participation in sports, more family communication and fewer disagreements or arguments with their parents.     

NASADAD calls for nominations for annual SSA award

The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) is requesting nominations for the annual Ramstad/Kennedy Award, presented to a single state agency (SSA) — the state director who is responsible for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant (and STR and SOR grants, now).     

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Army Homicide Investigations Highlight Role of Unaddressed Substance Use House Appropriations Committee Clears Field‐Related Spending Bill Treatment Providers Don't Fare Too Badly in Conn. Budget Florida Drug Strategy Sets Goals for Treatment and Prevention Michael Jackson's Death Raises Questions About Abuse Potential of Propofol Briefly Noted State News Resources Call for Comments Coming up     

NASADAD to NIDA: Connect research to practice

When the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sought input on its five‐year plan, the people responsible for publicly funded prevention, treatment and recovery — state directors — called for returning to the days of communication between federal agencies like the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and between NIDA researchers and the service delivery system. In an Aug. 7 letter to NIDA's strategic planning team, Robert I.L. Morrison, executive director of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), noted that each state alcohol and drug agency has a critical role to play in NIDA initiatives. This role includes.     

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New Hampshire Issues Ambitious Blueprint for Addiction Prevention and Treatment Wyoming Merges Substance Abuse and Mental Health Units Prop. 36 Yields Major Savings When Treatment Is Completed False Positives and False Negatives Found in Youth Drug Tests AATOD's 5‐Year Plan Includes Support for Buprenorphine, Risk Planning Briefly Noted Names in the News Call for Applications Coming up     

Nuggets from AATOD: New CSAT director comments

Here are more reports from last month's American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) conference in Orlando — in particular, insights from Louis Trevisan, M.D., the new director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).     

Briefly Noted

A conference focusing on “value” — money well spent — in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment featured payment and reimbursement, and, in a refreshing twist, researchers instead of administrators and payers. Led by CHERISH (the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV, a collaboration of Cornell Weill Medicine, Boston Medical Center, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse), the conference, held May 31 at the Leonard David Institute of Health at the University of Pennsylvania, featured speakers from the SUD treatment community who espouse medications. Topics and speakers included: ways to eliminate low‐value care (Joshua Sharfstein, M.D.), what value means (Colleen Barry, Ph.D., Brendan Saloner, Ph.D., and overcoming barriers to effective treatment (Michael Botticelli, Alexis Horan). It did give attendees the opportunity to network and interact directly, as researchers and policymakers, on how to overcome barriers to SUD treatment in communities. The bottom line: What works should be covered; what doesn't shouldn't.     

Transitioning SOR to the SAPT BG: Why not?

It's time to think about transitioning the State Opioid Response (SOR) grants to the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant, Robert Morrison, executive director of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), told the House Energy and Commerce Committee at its March 3 hearing on opioid legislation. The STR and SOR grants went directly to single state authorities (SSAs) in charge of the SAPT block grants — NASADAD members — so this makes perfect sense. These are the officials who best know how funding should be spent in their states — on what substances, including alcohol. Instead of having a designated amount set up for opioids — although that was expanded to include stimulants as well (see “FY 2020 Appropriations: Stimulants added to SOR's $1.5 billion,” ADAW, Dec. 23, 2019, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32573 ) — each SSA should just have this funding added permanently to the block grant.     

SAMHSA refers to streamlining in proposed budget cuts

Last week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released its Congressional Justification (CJ), issued by agencies in conjunction with the White House budget request for the next fiscal year. For FY 2020, the White House budget did not request additional money for SAMHSA's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant, and included cuts to substance abuse prevention (see ADAW, March 18).     

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Knowledge of Mental Disorders Required for Client Service, Counselor Careers Peer‐Led Services Begin to Emerge as Adjunct to Treatment NAADAC Workforce Development Conference Focus on Attracting and Retaining Counselors Peer Session Encourages Abstinence N.J. Treatmentproviders Group Seeks Restoration of Terminated Grant New Endorsement for Adolescent Services Coming from NAADAC Open Meeting on Medicare Drug Rule Effect's on Substance Abuse Substance Abuse Treatment Included in $7.2 Million for Jail Diversion Programs for Mentally Ill Briefly Noted Resources Coming Up     

White House budget request decimates substance use prevention

The White House budget request for fiscal year 2021 for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) proposes to zero out a major prevention program — the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant — Partnerships for Success program. This is a cut of $109 million. It recommends using the prevention set‐aside (20%) from the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant instead. But it doesn't give any more money to the block grant.     

NASADAD pushes block‐grant increase for stimulus 4 bill

The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) last week wrote to Sen. Patty Murray (D‐ Washington) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R‐Missouri), the Senate co‐chairs of the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, asking specifically for the $1.5 billion in supplemental funding as provided by the House in the HEROES Act for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant (see “Proposed bill for HEROES Act would give $1.5 billion to SAPT block grant,” ADAW, May 18, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32722 ).     

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Persons Under the Influence a Frequent Target of Tasers; Effects Remain Murky Oklahoma to Close Treatment Beds and Lay Off State Workers W. Va. Governor Calls for $23.5 Million for Substance Abuse Funding Goals of Governor's Drug Plan California's Senate Bill 707 Spells R‐E‐S‐P‐E‐C‐T Study: News About ODs May Have Led to Increased Abuse of Opioids Okla. Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Budget Reduction Summary Briefly Noted State News Business Names in the News Coming up     

Get High and Get Stupid: The Effect of Alcohol and Marijuana Use on Teen Sexual Behavior

Numerous studies have documented a strong correlation between substance use and teen sexual behavior, and this empirical relationship has given rise to a widespread belief that substance use causes teens to engage in risky sex. This causal link is often used by advocates to justify policies targeted at reducing substance use. Here, we argue that previous research has not produced sufficient evidence to substantiate a causal relationship between substance use and teen sexual behavior. Accordingly, we attempt to estimate causal effects using two complementary research approaches. Our findings suggest that substance use is not causally related to teen sexual behavior, although we cannot definitively rule out that possibility.Research for this paper was supported by grant number 5 R01 DA12692 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the National Bureau of Economic Research. We are indebted to Inas Rashad and Nasreen Khan for research assistance. We wish to thank Donald Kenkel, Jody Sindelar, David Salkever, David Bishai, Eric Slade, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions. Our research is based in part on the Add Health project, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry (PI) and Peter Bearman, and funded by grant PO1-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with cooperative funding participation by the National Cancer Institute; the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Institute of Nursing Research; the Office of AIDS Research, NIH; The Office of Behavior and Social Science Research, NIH; the Office of the Director, NIH; the Office of Research on Womens Health, NIH; the Office of Population Affairs, DHHS; the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DHHS; the Office of Minority Health, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, DHHS; the Office of Minority Health, Office of Public Health and Science, DHHS; the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS; and the National Science Foundation. Persons interested in obtaining data files from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health should contact Add Health Project, Carolina Population Center, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997 (email: addhealth@unc.edu). This paper has not undergone the review accorded to official NBER publications; in particular, it has not been submitted for approval by the Board of Directors. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and not those of NIDA or NBER.JEL Classification: I10, I11     

Senate Appropriations Committee hears about funding needs for SAPT block grant

The opioid epidemic is persisting, calling for the need for more funding, according to testimony on Capitol Hill last month. Mark Stringer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and single state authority (SSA) for the state's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant. In addition, it's important to transition from opioid‐focused funding to general funding for substance use prevention and treatment in general, via increasing the block grant, he said.     

More than a funder,the SSA needs community providers

The Single State Authority — SSA — is an office, but, in reality, is actually a person. This person is in charge of the ongoing Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant. There is one in every state. This person is also in charge of the STR and SOR grants for opioid use disorder treatment. For this story, we interviewed four longtime former SSAs about their lessons learned and their advice to new SSAs in a role that is in the spotlight both within state government and in the community, as billions of new dollars flow out to their systems. Each SSA is a member of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD).     

Disseminating science-based prevention: lessons learned from CSAP's CAPTs

A wide variety of prevention approaches that reduce substance use and associated problems have been developed and tested. But successes have been limited in promoting the use of these scientific advances by the policy makers, practitioners, and concerned citizens. The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's six regional Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CSAP's CAPTs) are a major mechanism by which CSAP brings research to practice. This article synthesizes the issues that the CAPTs have faced, the solutions they have developed, and conclusions concerning the work that still needs to be done to increase the application of science-based approaches to prevention. These discussions highlight the particular importance of addressing issues related to the larger systems in which prevention programs and strategies operate.     

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Adolescent Painkiller Use May Increase Risk of Addiction, Heroin Use Women's Component of NASADAD Offers Guidance Document for State Systems Parity Bill Attached to Tax Extender Bill Treatment Funds in Illinois Caught in Apparent Stalemate Substance Abuse: A 12‐Step Primer for Change No Drug Abuse, Underage Drinking or Smoking Allowed on YouTube Briefly Noted State Watch Names in News Call for Applications Coming up