CARSA Campaign Underway To Help Portland Small Businesses

(Portland, Oregon) Small businesses in the Portland area now have a new, useful resource for drug prevention in the workplace.

CARSA – Community Action to Reduce Substance Abuse – has added to its website a series of links to information that small businesses can use to provide assistance for employees and develop drug-free plans.

“Most businesses in Oregon agree that on-the-job substance abuse is a major problem,” says Louise Grant, co-chair of the CARSA business committee. “But while larger employers have comprehensive workplace programs in place, most small businesses don’t know where to begin. This gives them a head start.”

The website can be found at www.carsacoalition.org or can be accessed from the Oregon Partnership website at www.orpartnership.org.

CARSA is comprised of Portland area leaders in government, business, law enforcement and community advocates working toward a common goal: To change public opinions and attitudes so that abuse of drugs and alcohol is not acceptable.

It is an outgrowth of Portland’s 25 Cities Initiative that was launched in August of 2003 and funded by a federal Drug Free Communities Support grant secured by Oregon Partnership.

More than 70% of substance abusers and binge drinkers are employed, and the cost of lost productivity, injuries and health problems reaches into the tens of millions of dollars in Oregon alone.

In the Portland metropolitan area, there are more than 45,000 businesses with fifty employees or less.

The following links on the CARSA website provide extensive information for small businesses about establishing drug-free workplace policies and plans, legal requirements, and evaluations:

• WorkDrugFree Oregon
• Drug-Free Workplace Kit
• Oregon Nurses Foundation
• Oregon Partnership Drug-Free Workplace Packet

For more information on drug-free workplaces, contact Mimi Bushman of Workdrugfree Oregon at 503-588-0050.

NCAA: Beer Ads Don’t Belong in College Sports Telecasts

Your support is needed to urge the NCAA to change its alcohol advertising policy when its leadership meets in early August. Visit the Center for Science in the Public Interest action center to learn more and send a message.

ACTION ALERT

Tell the NCAA: Beer Ads Don’t Belong in College Sports Telecasts

Parents Allowing Teens to Drink at Home: Big-Time Mistake

Every so often, I read something about how this country could cut down on binge drinking by college students if parents would just allow their teens to experience small amounts of alcoholic beverages at home and learn how to drink responsibly.

This month in the Lake Oswego Review, a  teen wrote a piece pointing out that kids in Europe start drinking at home at an early age.  And if only kids didn’t have to be put up with scare tactics from their parents, they’d be so much better off and not have to go crazy once they’re out of the house and on to college.

I agree with the young author on the scare tactics part. Good information and education doesn’t have to be freightening or threatening.  But almost everything else he got wrong big time.

Here’s the reality:

*European countries have major problems with alcoholism and underage binge drinking – a lot worse than here.  Most governments there are starting to crack down on underage drinking, alcohol sales, and driving under the influence.  So much for how wonderful it is to allow kids to drink at home.

*Medical science has discovered in just the past ten years that there is a direct correlation between the age a person begins drinking and whether he or she experiences alcohol problems as an adult.  The top national experts in the addictions field say a kid who starts drinking at 15 or 16 has a five times bigger chance of grappling with alcohol addiction as an adult.  The adolescent brain is a developing brain, and alcohol and/or drugs absolutely affects several aspects of brain development.

*If parents allow their kids to drink at home, it is enabling an activity that is not only dangerous to the health of that kid, but illegal.  There are good reasons why you can’t – or shouldn’t – drink until you’re 21.

If parents really want to be successful in preventing their kids from abusing alcohol, they need to help change the culture that says drinking is a right of passage and start talking to their kids early and often.  Parents are the biggest influence on kids – yeah, even bigger than peer pressure.

There is a reason why the percentage of young people smoking cigarettes continues to drop.  Since kindergarden, they’ve learned how unhealthy it is.  I dare say parents wouldn’t tell their kids it’s OK to light up a cigarette after dinner.  The same should hold true for underage drinking.

Pete Schulberg, Communications Director

Oregon Partnership

Multnomah County Prevention Coordinator Receives Special Recognition

Multnomah County Prevention Coordinator Larry Langdon received special recognition by the CARSA (Community Action to Reduce Substance Abuse) Leadership Council for his exemplary services in the field of drug prevention and his commitment to outstanding community service.

Larry has since retired from his position as the Multnomah County Prevention Coordinator and moved with his wife to California. His services will be greatly missed.

Click here to read Larry’s bio.

Underage Drinking Aided by Adults: Time to Change the Culture

Join Together published the following on their website, and it’s an issue Oregon Partnership is trying to emphasize in the public arena.   Parents need to be aware that enabling their kids to drink is dangerous, unhealthy, and against the law.
Adults over the age of 21, including a substantial number of parents and guardians, are contributing to the underage drinking phenomenon by supplying free alcohol to young people, a nationwide report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)  has found.

The report, Underage Alcohol Use: Findings from the 2002-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, states that more than 40 percent of youths ages 12 to 20 who used alcohol in the past 30 days reported receiving free alcohol from an adult. One in 16 underage drinkers, or an estimated 650,000 youths, had received alcohol from a parent or guardian in the past month.

“This report provides unprecedented insight into the social context of this public health problem and shows that it cuts across many different parts of our community,” said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. “Its findings strongly indicate that parents and other adults can play an important role in helping influence — for better or for worse — young people’s behavior with regard to underage drinking.”

The report also states that binge drinking rates are significantly higher for young people living with a parent who engaged in past-year binge drinking. A total of 30.3 percent of underage drinkers reported that they were in their own home when they had their last drink, while 53.4 percent were at someone else’s home and comparatively few were at a restaurant, bar or club.

SAMHSA, the Office of the Surgeon General and the Ad Council will use the findings of this latest report to inform their joint Underage Drinking Prevention outreach campaign, an effort to encourage parents to address the topic of underage drinking’s dangers early and often with their children.

Parents, Don’t Miss: Keeping Your Kids Safe on the Internet

Practical Advice for Parenting Your Hi-Tech Kids!

Wednesday, October 1
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
at Montgomery Park
2701 NW Vaughn Avenue
Portland 97210
Only $30, Including Lunch!
Register Now! Parking is Free!

The very latest on what YOU can do to keep your family safe and informed about the ever-changing online universe.

The training will be led by Shawn Marshall, Licensed Professional Counselor at the Children’s Program, a Portland diagnostic & treatment clinic.

Shawn says “Kids aren’t as savvy when it comes to the unexpected ramifications of instant messaging, their MySpace page and all the other uses of the Internet. And that’s where informed parenting comes in.”

Here is what you’ll learn:

• How to protect your family’s privacy online
• Understanding “digital footprints”
• Why most online identities are fake
• How to deal with cyber harassment
• How using filters can create a false sense of security
• Can addiction really occur

To Register, email Danny Slifman or call 503-244-5211.

Click here to download the training flyer.

Brought to you by Oregon Partnership, a statewide non-profit working promoting healthy kids and communities by raising awareness about drug and alcohol issues, providing drug prevention education in classrooms, and 24-hour crisis lines for callers needing help.

To learn more, visit www.orpartnership.org.

Drug Pushers on the Internet: They’re still out there.

This from the July 11 Join Together newsletter……A new report finds that the number of online pharmacies may be declining, but the vast majority still don’t require customers to provide a prescription before ordering controlled drugs.

The “You’ve Got Drugs V: Prescription Drug Pushers on the Internet” report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) said that of the 365 websites that researchers found selling prescription drugs online, just two were certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and 85 percent sold drugs without a prescription.

CASA found that 42 percent of the sites explicitly stated that no prescription was needed to get drugs. Even among the sites that require a prescription, half allow customers to fax their scrip in, which CASA called an invitation to fraud.

Some sites also have started selling online “medical consultations,” allowing customers to obtain a prescription for controlled drugs that they can get filled at local pharmacies.

The previous You’ve Got Drugs study found 581 online pharmacies in 2007.

“This decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs may reflect efforts of federal and state agencies and financial institutions to crack down on Internet drug trafficking,” said CASA chairman and president Joseph A. Califano, Jr. “Nevertheless, in spite of those efforts, anyone of any age can obtain dangerous and addictive prescription drugs with the click of a mouse.”

Califano praised a bill passed by the Senate in April to crack down on illicit online pharmacies and urged the House and President Bush to approve the measure, as well as steps taken by credit-card companies and PayPal to prevent payments to online “pill mills.” The CASA report also called for Internet search engines to block ads for drugs from unlicensed and uncertified online pharmacies and said the U.S. should ink treaties with foreign governments to shut down online pharmacies.

However, Califano added that, “This problem is not going away. It is morphing into different outlets for controlled prescription drug trafficking like Internet script mills and membership sites that sell lists of online pharmacies, and different payment methods like eChecks, COD and money orders.”

Alcohol Abuse Common Among Veterans Returning Home

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars are increasingly turning to alcohol when they return home to cope with the lingering stress of their combat experiences, sometimes with tragic consequences, the New York Times reported July 8.

“The problem in today’s military is soldiers have to be warriors, killers, do war, but we don’t allow them any releases like we used to,” said Bryan Lane, a former special forces sergeant who suffered a brain injury in Iraq and is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “You can’t go out and drink, you can’t get into a fight. It’s completely unrealistic.”

Soldiers returning from Iraq, where drinking is officially banned, also may be more prone to overindulge when they return to the U.S., even though their tolerance for alcohol may be reduced due to enforced abstinence.

Drunk driving, bar fights, domestic violence and sometimes homicide are among the more serious consequences of rising rates of alcohol problems among veterans, prompting Congress in May to pass legislation to increase addiction screening for veterans coming home from combat zones.

“The war is now and the problems are now,” said Richard A. McCormick of Case Western Reserve University, who served on a Pentagon task force on mental health. “Every day there is a cohort of men and women being discharged who need services not one or two or five years from now. They need them now.”

The military has a shortage of addiction-treatment providers for active duty personnel, and reservists and their families often have difficulty getting access to care through the Tricare health plan.

Drinking also has long been a part of military tradition, though the services have tried to change that mentality and encourage personnel with drinking problems to seek help. “The Army takes alcohol and drug abuse very seriously and has tried for decades to deglamorize its use,” said spokesperson Lt. Col. George Wright. “With the urgency of this war, we continue to tackle the problem with education, prevention and treatment.”

The most recent post deployment surveys by the Pentagon show that 12 percent of active-duty soldiers and 15 percent of reservists acknowledge having problems with alcohol. Use of illicit drugs also is up slightly in the Army and Marines since 2002, and the problem may be worse among those who have left the service.

OP To Miller Brewing: Lose the Alcoholic Energy Drinks!

Tom Long, President and CEO
Miller Brewing Company
3939 W. Highland Boulevard
P.O. Box 482
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0482

Dear Mr. Long,

On behalf of thousands of our supporters, we at Oregon Partnership urge you to stop the sale of Sparks and other beverages that qualify as alcoholic energy drinks.

In following the lead of Anheuser-Busch to discontinue these products, Miller Brewing Company would be providing a vital public service and would save many young lives.  Your action would not go unnoticed.

High-alcohol beverages and energy drinks are a dangerous mix.  Underage youth are at the highest risk for catastrophic alcohol-related injuries and are especially susceptible to products offering a false promise of increased tolerance to alcohol.

We urge Miller Brewing Company to do the right thing for America’s young people, and stop sales of alcoholic energy drinks once and for all.

Sincerely,

Judy Cushing
President / CEO

Oregon Partnership