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From CADCA news:
Update on COVID-19 Relief and Appropriations
Last week, leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees met to discuss how to allocate funding across the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the government. Congress has until the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on December 11 to reach an agreement. However, it is likely that Congress will buy time by adopting another CR that will fund the government until December 18.
The largest outstanding issue is how much COVID-19 relief should be included in the final omnibus appropriations bill. A bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives proposed a $908 billion relief package, which would provide funding across many areas, including substance use prevention, healthcare, education, childcare, small businesses, transit and aid to state and local governments. Specifically, it includes $3.15 billion to SAMHSA for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, tribal programs, emergency relief and peer recovery programs, as well as $1.3 billion for State Opioid Response Grants and expanded access to medication-assisted treatment. The bill also includes $300 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and allows for a second forgivable loan. Eligibility for this loan would be limited to small businesses with 300 or fewer employees that have sustained a 30% loss of revenue in any quarter of 2020.
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Regional Opioid and Other Drug Prevention and Policy Workgroup |
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Action Needed Regarding
E-Cigarette Regulation and Policy
In late 2019 steps were taken to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes. Both at the state and federal level, Tobacco 21 became the new law, making it illegal to sell any tobacco product to anyone under the age of 21 (click here for more information on the CT law, prevention, and enforcement). Local, state governments and later the federal government also took steps to limit flavored e-cigarette sales by banning all flavored "pods" with the exception of tobacco and menthol. However, young people like flavored e-cigs and they have adapted. "By May 2020, menthol e-cigarettes accounted for more than half (51.6%) of e-cigarette sales and 37% of youth e-cigarette users reported using menthol e-cigarettes" What is worse is that disposible e-cigs were overlooked within the FDA's flavor ban. Use of disposibles by high school students rose by 1000% (2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey results).
E-cigarette Pre-Market Applications
Congress gave the FDA the responsibility to regulate tobacco products in 2009 with the Tobacco Control Act. It was not until 2016 that e-cigarettes became part of FDA's jurisdiction which meant that those products were on the market with minimal federal oversight for 7 years. After several deadline delays, all e-cigarette manufacturers were required to submit a pre-market application (PMTA) by September 9, 2020. The FDA is supposed to conduct its review of those products in one year.
The Truth Initiative's Calls to Action:
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Remove all non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes from the market. "Without a full removal of all flavored products from the market, reversing the youth e-cigarette epidemic will be stymied".
- The FDA should conduct a thorough and transparent pre-market application process. "FDA should release on a regular and timely basis a list of those manufacturers who have filed PMTA applications including the names of products submitted, status of their acceptance by FDA, and other information to keep the public informed about this critical review process".
Click here to read the full report from The Truth Initiative
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Disposible flavored e-cigarettes were left out of the flavor ban. Young people quickly adapted, switching from flavored Juul pods to products like these |
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Drug Free Schools Committee
Resources for Youth, Parents and Families
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Help Is Here
A free eight-part online series to provide Connecticut parents and caregivers with the skills and information needed to navigate Connecticut’s teen and young adult substance use resources. The video library is listed on:
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Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on America’s Loneliness Epidemic
The coronavirus pandemic has created a loneliness epidemic. Social distancing, while necessary from a public health standpoint, has caused a collapse in social contact among family, friends, and entire communities — one that is particularly hard on populations already most vulnerable to isolation.
But Americans were experiencing a loneliness crisis long before anyone had heard of Covid-19. In a 2018 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 22 percent of all adults in the US — almost 60 million Americans — said they often or always felt lonely or socially isolated. The problem is even more concentrated among older adults: A major National Academies of Sciences report from February found that a little more than a third of adults over the age of 45, and 43 percent of adults over 60, felt lonely. Continue reading.
In this article, Vivek Murthy suggests these simple things we can do today, even during the pandemic to feel connected:
- "Sometimes we forget that one of the greatest gifts we can give other people is the gift of our full attention. But there’s also great healing to be found in listening deeply to someone. That’s something that we can do today, and it’s one of the most powerful things we can do."
- "Another thing we can do is service. This is a time where so many people are struggling. So service in a time of Covid-19....can look like calling a friend to see how they’re doing. It can be checking on a neighbor who might be older to make sure that they have groceries. It can be FaceTiming with your friends’ children to virtually babysit them for 10 or 15 minutes so their parents have time to sit and breathe."
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Region 5 Suicide Advisory Board |
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Treatment for Suicidal Ideation, Self-harm, and Suicide Attempts Among Youth
This newly published guide, part of SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Resource Guide Series provides "a comprehensive set of modules with resources to improve health outcomes for people at risk for, with, or recovering from mental and/or substance use disorders. It is designed for practitioners, administrators, community leaders, and others considering an intervention for their organization or community."
It includes an Issue brief on the topic, research, guidance for selecting and implementing evidence-based programs, examples of suicide treatment programs and guidance and resources for evaluation and monitoring outcomes.
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The New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center Network provides many free resources including podcasts, webinars (live and recorded), and a catalog of publications. Click here to visit their website. We encourage our Local Prevention Councils to join their mailing list to receive their newslettter and information about upcoming trainings.
Upcoming program:
1:00pm - January 12, 2021 | Timezone: US/Eastern
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Problem Gambling Awareness |
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Internet Gaming
Online games are very popular, at least one person plays video games in two-thirds of American households, according to the Entertainment Software Association. Roughly 160 million American adults play internet-based games, one recent study estimates. The games can be very entertaining, and it may be easy to get absorbed in the competition, but can they be addictive? That is a question still being debated among researchers and health professionals.
Addiction to gaming is described in the American Psychiatric Association's Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) which is used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental disorders. There was not sufficient evidence to determine whether the condition is a unique mental disorder or the best criteria to classify it at the time the DSM-5 was published in 2013. However, it recognized internet gaming disorder in the section recommending conditions for further research, along with caffeine use disorder and other conditions. Continue reading
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40 Developmental Assets Framework |
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The Developmental Assets® are 40 research-based, positive experiences and qualities that influence young people’s development, helping them become caring, responsible, and productive adults.
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External Asset #6 which falls under "Support"
Parental Involvement in Schooling- Parent(s) are actively involved in helping young person succeed in school
Research shows that young people are more likely to grow up healthy when their parents are involved in their education. Even if they don’t always show it, young people need help with school. It is important for parents or care-givers to check in with kids to see how they feel things are going with school.
How do we build this asset?
- Build rapport with their teachers and communicate regularly either by phone or email. Teachers can help too by offering alternatives to in-person conferences for working families
- Join the PTO or volunteer at shool if you can
- Community organizations can offer child-care or transportation to help parents carve out time to be involved at their child's school
The 40 Developmental Assets® may be reproduced for educational, non-commercial uses only. Copyright ©1997 Search Institute®, 3001 Broadway Street NE, Suite 310, Minneapolis MN 55413; 800-888-7828; www.searchinstitute.org. All rights reserved.
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