Northeast > Services > Audioconferences > Policy Approaches to Reducing Underage Drinking

Policy Approaches to Reducing Underage Drinking

Date: December 7, 2005, 1:00 P.M. – 2:30 P.M., EDT.

Concern about underage drinking and its related consequences—including motor vehicle fatalities and accidents, alcohol-related emergency visits, and engagement in other risky behaviors—is growing. In response, communities and states have begun combining traditional, individual-based prevention approaches with environmental strategies, such as policy and enforcement, that focus on creating environments that support positive behaviors. Environmental strategies are appealing for several reasons: they are far-reaching, cost-effective, and, when used to reinforce prevention messages already directed at individuals, can produce substantial reductions in substance use.

This interactive audio conference will focus on the planning and implementation of policy strategies at the state and local levels. Participants will discuss different types of policies, explore strategies for engaging key stakeholders, and review key action steps for developing successful policy.

This course will be facilitated by Carol Oliver, Technical Assistance and Training Manager for CSAP’s Northeast CAPT, joined by Jack Vondras, Health Director for the Gloucester, MA Health Department, Jennifer Wierwille Norton, Manager of Policy at New Futures in Portsmouth, NH, and Elizabeth Silva, Director, Winchester Substance Abuse Coalition, Winchester, MA.

Target Audience
Registration Instructions
Course Objectives
Course Agenda
Presenter Bios
Resources
Contact Information

Target Audience: SSA staff, prevention practitioners, coalition members, GRAA grantees, and other individuals and groups interested in underage drinking issues.

Registration Instructions: To register online, go to https://jsp.premiereglobal.com/webrsvp/ and use confirmation code 6701694. To register by phone, call 800-289-0579.

Course Objectives: During this audio conference, participants will explore:

• The role of policy in reducing underage drinking.
• Examples of effective policy strategies at the state and local level.
• Approaches to assessing, planning and implementing policy-related strategies.

Course Agenda:

• Introduction and overview (Carol Oliver)
• Overview of policy strategies (Jack Vondras)
• Examples from the field:
  • Policy on the state level: New Hampshire’s Underage Drinking Plan (Jennifer Wierwille Norton)
  • Policy on the community level (Elizabeth Silva)
• Wrap-up and evaluation

Presenter Bios:

Jennifer Wierwille Norton serves as the Manager of Policy for New Futures. New Futures is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization working to reduce underage alcohol problems and increase access to treatment in New Hampshire. Prior to joining the New Futures team in February 2003, Jennifer was the Special Assistant for Health & Human Services Policy for Governor Jeanne Shaheen.

Jennifer received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University. While living in Washington, DC, Jennifer served as Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the American Public Health Association. She also worked for the Food Research and Action Center as a field organizer and policy analyst.

Jennifer lives in Concord with her husband and two young children. She also serves as a member of the Concord School Board.

Carol Oliver, Technical Assistance and Training Manager for CSAP’s Northeast CAPT, has over 15 years of experience working in the field of alcohol and other substance abuse prevention. Before joining the CAPT, she directed the Massachusetts Regional Prevention Center of the North Shore, which provided technical assistance and training to 27 Massachusetts communities on alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse prevention. She has particular expertise in coalition development, and has provided technical assistance to coalitions throughout New England. Ms. Oliver has a B.A. in international relations and an M.A. in teaching from Boston University.

Elizabeth Silva is director of the Winchester Substance Abuse Coalition (WSAC) in Winchester, Massachusetts. In this role, Elizabeth oversees a multi-level community campaign to address underage use of substances. Included in this approach are parent education, health policy development and intervention services. In addition, Ms. Silva over sees the implementation of the Life Skills Training (LST) Program within the town school district and provides technical assistance to other commonwealth communities such as the city of Cambridge, Marblehead, Lynn, Foxboro and Springfield, MA in their implementation of LST.

For the past five years, Ms. Silva has been a prevention liaison to the Office of Managed Care, a department of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the federal level. In this capacity, she is part of a training team providing learning opportunities nationwide on the integration of prevention services into the managed care environments.

Jack Vondras is the Director of the Gloucester Health Department in Gloucester, Massachusetts and a Center Associate for CSAP’s Northeast CAPT. His background includes a Masters in Public Health, twenty-five years of public health experience, and more than ten years experience developing effective coalitions. He is particularly skilled at fostering collaborations among people with differing—and sometimes conflicting—needs and goals. Areas of expertise include program management, public policy, and planning and organizational development. He has also implemented more than 15 evidence-based programs at the local level, focusing attention on the relationship between evaluation and program development. His efforts have been recognized at the local, state and national level.

Resources:

Publications

Policy: A Strategy for Prevention Practitioners What policy means as a prevention strategy and how you can incorporate it into your work as a prevention practitioner. Available online at http://captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/resources/prevention_materials/policy/policy.cfm


Articles

Dent, C. W., Grube, J. W., and Biglan, A. (2004). Community level alcohol availability and enforcement of possession laws as predictors of youth drinking. Preventive Medicine, 40 (2005), 355-362. Available online at
http://captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/PDF/underage_drinking/community_001.pdf

National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (September, 2003). Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine
Report Brief, 1-6. Available online at http://captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/PDF/underage_drinking/reducing_underage_drinking.pdf

Richter, L., Vaughan, R. D., Foster, S. E. Public attitudes about underage drinking policies: Results from a National Survey. Journal of Public Health Policy, 25 (1), 58-77. Available online at
http://captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/PDF/underage_drinking/attitudes.pdf

Web Sites

Alcohol Policy Information System
http://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov
This Web site contains detailed information on a wide variety of alcohol-related policies at both the state and federal levels. It features compilations and analyses of alcohol-related statutes and regulations. The principal research tools on this site are 35 sets of comparison tables and supporting materials for selected alcohol policies.

This website is sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and provides general information on the culture of college drinking. Included is facts and research on drinking, as well as the harmful effects.

Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention
http://www.edc.org/hec/

The Higher Education Center's purpose is to help college and community leaders develop, implement, and evaluate programs and policies to reduce student problems related to alcohol and other drug use and interpersonal violence. The Center favors a comprehensive approach to prevention. Central to this approach is a mix of environmental management strategies to address the institutional, community, and public policy factors that contribute to these problems. The Center supports the development of a prevention infrastructure, primarily by facilitating the work of statewide prevention initiatives and campus-community coalitions. The Center provides trainings, technical assistance, and publications to support these efforts. The Center also promotes innovative program development to improve student education, campus-based media campaigns (including social norms campaigns), early intervention, treatment, and recovery strategies, and enforcement.

Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free
http://www.alcoholfreechildren.org/en/research/briefs.cfm?doc_id=308
The focus of this site is on controlling alcohol availability to young people and controlling the ways in which alcohol is advertised and promoted.

New Futures
http://www.new-futures.org
New Futures is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization working to reduce underage alcohol problems and increase access to treatment in New Hampshire through leadership and policy development.

Since 2002, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Scholastic Inc., have collaborated to provide school-based, underage alcohol use prevention materials. To further alert children, parents, and teachers about the dangers of underage alcohol use, and to reinforce the messages in these school-based materials, SAMHSA is encouraging prominent national, State, and local leaders to conduct teach-ins for fifth- and/or sixth-grade classrooms nationwide during the week of April 3-7, 2006, the first week of Alcohol Awareness Month.

StopAlcoholAbuse.gov
http://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov

StopAlcoholAbuse.Gov is a comprehensive portal of Federal resources for information on underage drinking and ideas for combating this issue. People interested in underage drinking prevention—including parents, educators, community-based organizations, and youth—will find information here.

The Cool Spot
http://www.thecoolspot.gov

The Cool Spot is sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and is intended to help prevent alcohol use among middle-school students. On this web site students can find facts on alcohol, as well as ways to resist peer pressure.

The Marin Institute
http://www.marininstitute.org/alcohol_policy/index.htm
This Web site provides general information on alcohol policies at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as information on who has the authority to enact types of public alcohol policies and how alcohol policy is shaped.

Too Smart to Start
http://www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov

Too Smart To Start is a public education initiative that provides research-based strategies and materials to professionals and volunteers at the community level to help them conduct an underage alcohol use prevention program. The materials are designed to educate 9- to 13-year-olds about the harms of alcohol use and to support parents and caregivers as they participate in their children’s activities.

University of Minnesota Alcohol Epidemiology Program
http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/policy/access.shtm
This Web site contains policy information around youth access to alcohol. Featured are fact sheets on youth’s social access to alcohol: alcohol obtained from friends, co-workers, parents, siblings, and strangers, and the policies that address this access. Another section contains fact sheets on youth’s commercial access to alcohol through licensed alcohol establishments, such as bars, convenience stores, liquor stores, grocery stores, and restaurants. A third section describes strategies to reduce youth access to alcohol.

Contact Information:

If you have questions or need additional information about this audio conference please contact Valda Grinbergs at VGrinbergs@edc.org or 617-618-2949.