Federal Funding Cuts to Public Health Programs are Hurting Americans, Says Report

According to a report by the Coalition for Health Funding, overall federal funding for public health programs has been drastically cut over the past four years and it’s adversely affecting Americans in a direct way. Federal agencies that deal with substance abuse prevention and treatment have been affected the most.

The report, Faces of Austerity: How Budget Cuts Hurt America’s Health, released on July 15, analyzes the impact that federal public health budget cuts have on people and communities.
The National Institute of Health (NIH), which includes the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and comprises about half the federal government’s spending on public health, has experienced a 10 percent budget cut over the past year. Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been slashed by 16 percent and funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which includes the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) has been cut about 8 percent. 

The report highlights over 20 case studies that personalize and put a human face on the impact of these budget cuts. For example, “Heroin in Illinois: A State of Emergency,” features Allen Sandusky of the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse located in East Hazel Crest, Ill. In the study, Sandusky describes how his organization used funds from SAMHSA’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant for prevention and treatment in the southern suburbs of Chicago. In 2013, these funds were reduced by over 10 percent. 

The report goes on to show how, at a time when “heroin use and addiction is at crisis levels nationally and in Illinois,” federal public health budget cuts have caused a 21 percent decline in funding for the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. Such a large decline in funding in so short a period of time has led to a reduction in the organization’s staff size, reduced benefits, a decrease in the number of people receiving treatment and an almost complete elimination of ancillary services.  The study ends ominously by stating that by “the end of 2014, there is no guarantee that [the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse] will still be in operation.”

Through this report, the Coalition hopes to provide incentives in Congress to reverse the previous years’ cuts and help provide for a healthier America. 

For more information about this study, visit www.cutshurt.org.

CADCA to Unveil New Products to Help Address Prescription Drug Abuse at Mid-Year Training Institute

With prescription drug abuse at epidemic proportions, CADCA will unveil new tools at the 2014 Mid-Year Training Institute to help community leaders prevent and reduce prescription drug abuse and over-the-counter medicine abuse.

In addition to in-depth training on prescription drug abuse, CADCA will launch a new Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse Toolkit at the Mid-Year. This comprehensive Toolkit will provide strategies community leaders can implement to prevent and reduce prescription drug abuse. The content is based on CADCA’s evidence-based community problem-solving model and CADCA’s “Seven Strategies for Community Change." 

The new Toolkit will also include:

•    Fact Sheets on prescription drug abuse and over-the-counter medicine abuse
•    Success stories highlighting communities that have reduced prescription drug abuse
•    How to Conduct a Community Assessment on Rx Abuse
•    Sample Rx Abuse Prevention Logic Model
•    Sample Rx Abuse Prevention Intervention Maps
•    National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month Grassroots Media Kit
•    PowerPoint presentations for use at community meetings
•    Video case studies
•    Shareable tools

Also at the Mid-Year, CADCA will release a new OTC Literacy Utility Guide to equip teachers, youth and parents with guidance on the safe use and proper storage of over-the-counter medicines. The Guide is meant to help coalitions integrate the OTC Literacy curriculum, developed by Scholastic and the American Association of Poison Control Centers, into their community-based prevention work. 

Prescription drug abuse and over-the-counter medicine abuse is a multi-dimensional public health problem that demands comprehensive, coordinated solutions.  For more than a decade, CADCA and its coalition network have been developing strategies and achieving reductions in Rx and OTC drug misuse and abuse at the local level.  CADCA was among the first national organizations to sound the alarm, and we continue to provide to local leaders valuable policy and programmatic tools to educate the public and take steps at the population-level that mitigate the impact of this very serious issue. 

Between 2013 and 2014, CADCA trained leaders from throughout the country on effective prescription drug abuse prevention strategies at numerous state and national conferences, including the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit, the National Governors Association Policy Academy in Arkansas, and CADCA’s 2014 National Leadership Forums. CADCA also trained all state-level prescription drug monitoring program staff in our coalition-based prescription drug prevention model during a webinar hosted by the PDMP Center for Excellence at Brandeis University. 

In addition, CADCA hosted four town hall meetings last Fall and this Spring in Revere, Mass., Cincinnati, Ohio, Denver, Colo. and Jackson, Ohio to raise awareness of the prescription drug abuse problem and help local leaders find solutions to the problem in their communities. 

SEE ALSO: 

Engage with State-Level Partners to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse at Mid-Year Training Institute

New Toolkit Available to Help Coalitions Plan Prescription Drug Take-Back Days

Highway to Heroin CADCA TV Webcast Debuts Feb. 28th

Urban Outfitters Crosses the Line with Pens Resembling Hypodermic Needles

First it was the marijuana cook book and games for “stoners”, then the t-shirts promoting underage drinking and who can forget the flasks and glasses made to resemble prescription drug bottles? Now Urban Outfitters, the retail store popular with young teens, is at it again but have they crossed the line? To promote their new partnership with a salon called Hairroin, Urban Outfitters gave away promotional pens made to resemble hypodermic needles at their newest flagship store in New York City.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the move has angered some New Yorkers who find the giveaways offensive and distasteful. CADCA couldn’t agree more. That’s why CADCA Chairman and CEO, Gen. Arthur T. Dean, wrote a letter to Urban Outfitters President and CEO Richard Haynes asking that they stop making light of drug use, especially when rates of heroin-related overdose rates are on the rise in the New York region.  

“At a time when our nation is facing an increase of heroin users, particularly among young adults aged 18-25, and many regions, including the New York area, are seeing heroin epidemics, giving out pens that resemble hypodermic needles is irresponsible and unacceptable. Not only does it send the wrong message to young people, who frequent your store, it also makes light of a serious problem that is killing both young and old every day,” said CADCA’s Gen. Dean said in his letter.

In the letter, CADCA asks that Urban Outfitters stop making light of a serious public health problem and discontinue giving away these pens or any products that promote or glamorize drug or alcohol use. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
If you agree that this latest move is unacceptable and reprehensible, write a letter on behalf of your coalition to Urban Outfitters expressing your outrage. Feel free to use CADCA’s letteras a template.  

Here’s the address you can send your letters to:
Mr. Richard Hayne
President and CEO
Urban Outfitters
5000 South Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19112

SEE ALSO:

CADCA Responds to Retail Chain Glamorizing Rx Abuse

Help Get Urban Outfitters to Pull Pro-Alcohol T-Shirt Line Off Shelves

Prevention Leaders Concerned About Urban Outfitters Marijuana Products

Methamphetamine-related Hospital Emergency Department Visits on The Rise

Hospital emergency department visits related to the use of methamphetamine rose from 67,954 in 2007 to 102,961 in 2011 according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Overall, there were 1,252,500 visits to hospital emergency departments linked to the use of all illicit drugs.

Methamphetamine, or meth, has a high potential for abuse and addiction and can cause a wide array of potentially harmful intoxicating effects, including altered judgment and reduced inhibitions, leading to unsafe behaviors. The drug can also cause severe dental problems, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Long term methamphetamine users may display psychotic manifestations, including paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions.

 “This report shows that methamphetamine use may be on the rise again, and we must do everything we can to address this serious public health problem,” said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. “One important step is to use the hospital emergency department visit as a critical opportunity to talk to, and intervene with, people using this drug so that they can more fully understand its dangers and where they can turn to for help.”

People using the drug who are also taking antidepressants may experience dangerously high blood pressure, overheating, seizures, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.

Emergency department visits associated with methamphetamine significantly decreased between 2005 to 2007, but then rose between 2009 and 2011. From 2007 to 2011, there were significant increases in methamphetamine-related hospital visits involving those aged 25 to 34 and those aged 55 and older.

The report also found that in 2011, 62 percent of these methamphetamine-related emergency visits involved the use of this drug with at least one other substance. Twenty-nine percent of methamphetamine-related emergency hospital visits involved combined use with one other drug, and 33 percent involved combination use with two or more drugs. 

In 2011, the top two substance combinations for methamphetamine-related emergency departments were marijuana (22 percent) and alcohol (16 percent). These were also the top two combinations in 2008.

The report, Emergency Department Visits Involving Methamphetamine: 2007 to 2011, is drawn from SAMHSA’s 2007 to 2011 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) – a public health surveillance system that monitors drug-related emergency department visits in the United States.

College Students Perceive Hookah Smoking to Be Safe and Socially Acceptable

Educational campaigns meant to dissuade college students from initiating hookah tobacco smoking may be more successful if they combat positive perceptions of hookah use as attractive and romantic, rather than focusing solely on the harmful components of hookah tobacco smoke, a new University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study found.

The research, supported by the National Cancer Institute, examined the sequence of events around which university students first smoke tobacco from a hookah, also known as a water pipe, in an effort to determine the driving factors behind the decision. It will be published in the June issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research and is online now. Because hookah tobacco smoking exposes the user to substantial amounts of toxicants such as carbon monoxide, nicotine, carcinogens and tar, initiation of this behavior is of concern.

"It was surprising to learn that college students, even when they were aware of the health dangers associated with hookah tobacco smoking at baseline, still went on to use a hookah for the first time," said lead author Jaime Sidani, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior research specialist in the Program for Research on Media and Health (PROMH) at Pitt. "However, students who had less positive attitudes toward hookah smoking were significantly less likely to initiate. This suggests that countering positive attitudes may be at least as effective as emphasizing harm in preventing initiation of hookah tobacco smoking."

Dr. Sidani and her colleagues analyzed a sample of 569 first- and second-year University of Florida college students who were surveyed twice over a seven-month period about their attitudes, knowledge and behaviors regarding hookah smoking. During that time, 13 percent of the students initiated hookah tobacco use.

The students were more likely to initiate hookah use if they had positive attitudes toward hookah smoking - which is frequently promoted as relaxing, pleasurable, fun and sexual - and if they thought it was a socially acceptable practice among their peers.

"Hookah tobacco smoking does not seem to be hampered by many of the negative social stigmas of cigarette smoking," said Dr. Sidani. "If educational programs can help students to cut through the positive portrayals and marketing of hookah smoking, it may be possible to make hookah smoking less attractive and socially acceptable, resulting in less initiation."

Senior author Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., director of PROMH, added that regulation of hookah tobacco smoking and marketing in the United States is confusing and less rigorous than laws meant to prevent cigarette smoking, which may contribute to misperceptions around hookah smoking.

"Clear policy measures addressing the sale and marketing of hookah products and regulation of hookah bars and cafes may be another way to counteract the positive attitudes young adults hold toward hookah smoking," Dr. Primack said.

SEE ALSO:

E-cigarettes, Hookah and Other Smokeless Tobacco Products (webinar recording)

Hookah Smoking: The Sweet Tobacco with Not-So-Sweet Risks