Substance use and alcohol abuse during pregnancy are significant public health concerns. Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a withdrawal syndrome that infants exposed to opioids may experience in the first few days of life. For most infants with NAS, exposure to opioids occurs during pregnancy while they are fetuses. Similarly, prenatal alcohol…

This is a report on the New Mexico Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) project conducted over 5 years as part of a national initiative launched by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration with the aim of increasing integration of substance use services and medical care. Throughout the state, 53,238…

Since 1975 the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month; for some drugs, daily use is also reported. Initially, the survey included…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1976 to 2009, the percentage of Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) college students rose from 2 percent to 7 percent. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), although many surveys treat AAPIs as a single ethnic group, this population is in fact…

Research indicates that family connectedness is the leading protective factor against youth involvement in alcohol and other drug use. A vital component to building positive family connections is effective parent-child communication. This article discusses the importance of building positive parent-child communication skills and provides practical…

According to the American Psychiatric Association, college can be an exciting time, though for some it can be overwhelming and stressful. Depression, anxiety, substance use, and eating disorders are common mental health issues on college campuses. The 2010 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment found that 28 percent…

Medical residents do not receive adequate training in screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol and other drug use disorders. The federally funded Pennsylvania SBIRT Medical and Residency Training program (SMaRT) is an evidence-based curriculum with goals of training residents in SBIRT knowledge and skills and…

The promoting responsibility through education and prevention (PREP) program is an after school substance abuse and violence prevention program for at-risk fourth and fifth grade youths in St. Louis, Missouri. Staffed by licensed clinical social workers and professional volunteers, PREP offers cultural cooking classes, yoga, and art as well as…

Objective: The authors explored the relationship between self-reported vigorous exercise frequency and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use behaviors among first-year college students who self-identified as drinkers. Participants: The authors recruited 391 freshman college students in Northeast Florida to participate in an alcohol abuse…

This article discusses recovery high schools which are designed specifically to serve students who have been through a professional substance abuse treatment program and are working to stay away from drugs and alcohol. The schools typically serve multiple districts and are funded from both the per-pupil state funds that follow a student and what…

A central feature of the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention is the promotion of multiple prevention strategies that affect campus and surrounding community environments as a whole and can, thereby, have a large-scale effect on the entire campus community. In outlining the…

Project CHOICES developed an integrated behavioral intervention for prevention of prenatal alcohol exposure in women at high risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies. Settings included primary care, university-hospital based obstetrical/gynecology practices, an urban jail, substance abuse treatment settings, and a media-recruited sample in three large…

Life continues to hold considerable risk for adolescents in the United States. In 2006, the teen death rate stood at 64 deaths per 100,000 teens (13,739 teens) (KIDS COUNT Data Center, 2009). Although it has declined by 4 percent since 2000, the rate of teen death in this country remains substantially higher than in many peer nations, based…

This article presents a re-conceptualization of moderate adolescent drug use. It is argued that experimentation with alcohol and other drugs during the teenage years may play an important role in the development of regulatory competency in relation to drug consumption in adulthood. When such regulatory skills fail to emerge in young people, during…

In response to recent alcohol-related tragedies and to ongoing concern about unacceptable levels of alcohol and other drug use on college campuses, Congress authorized the U.S. Department of Education to identify and promote effective campus-based prevention programs. Since 1999, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded approximately $3.5…