SAU 36 Student Assistance Program Coordinator (SAP), Kelly Renaud, coordinated tulip bulb planting with the students at the Lancaster Elementary School as well as the Whitefield Elementary School in honor of Red Ribbon Week's National "Plant the Promise" Campaign.

October 22^nd-30^th marked the official 2011 Red Ribbon Week. During Red Ribbon Week, youth around the nation engage in various activities promoting the message to live drug-free in order to achieve your dreams. Red Ribbon Week is an opportunity to engage students in resistance building activities in which they join their classmates and schools and unite in the stand against substance abuse.

North Country schools were given the opportunity again this year to participate in the Plant the Promise campaign for Red Ribbon Week 2011. The NH National Guard partnered with the Regional Prevention Network in the 10 regions indentified in the state to provide 1,000 tulip bulbs free of charge to each region to be distributed to interested schools/youth groups in that region to contribute to the nationwide effort.

The schools who participated in the campaign for 2011 were Pittsburg School, Woodsville High School, Lin-wood School, Lancaster Elementary School, Whitefield Elementary School, Groveton High School, as well as the Gorham Middle/High School.

The North Country Substance Abuse Prevention Program would like to thank the NH National Guard for providing the tulip bulbs for the campaign as well as the participating youth groups from the North Country for playing a major role in this prevention effort.

Majority of Nonmedical Users of  

Prescription Pain Relievers
Get the Drugs from Friends/Relatives or Doctors

 Adopted from the October 31st, 2011 Edition of the CESAR Fax: 

http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/cesarfax.asp   

In 2010, 5.1 million people ages 12 and older reported the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers in the past month, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The majority of these users-60.1%-reported that they obtained the pain relievers free from a friend or relative. The other most commonly mentioned methods were obtaining them from a doctor (27.1% from one doctor and another 4.9% from more than one doctor) and buying them from a friend or relative (26.8%). Among those who used pain relievers nonmedically and indicated that they obtained the drugs from a friend or relative for free, 76.7% indicated that the friend or relative obtained the drugs from just one doctor (data not shown). Only 1% reported buying their prescription pain relievers on the internet. These findings suggest that improving both patient education as well as doctors' monitoring of patients may help reduce the diversion of prescription pain relievers for nonmedical use.

Method of Obtaining Prescription Pain Relievers
Reported by Past Month Nonmedical Users Ages 12 or Older

    

 NOTES: Percentages sum to more than 100% because respondents could indicate multiple sources from which they obtained pain relievers for past month nonmedical use. The response options "Wrote a fake prescription" and "Stole from doctor's office, clinic, hospital, or pharmacy" were reported by less than one percent of those who used prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past year and are not shown in the figure above.

   

Teenagers living in rural areas who regularly volunteer and help others are less likely than their peers, who don't often engage in these activities, to drink or use drugs as young adults, a new study suggests.

Previous studies have suggested teenagers in rural areas may be more likely to use illicit substances earlier, which puts them at risk for developing addiction problems, Health Canal reports. Rural communities often have fewer recreation centers and organized activities, the article notes.

The study included 531 rural teens who were surveyed in grades 10-12, and again in early adulthood. They were asked about their time spent volunteering and helping others, as well as substance use. The researchers found rural teens who frequently volunteer and help others are less likely to engage in substance use in young adulthood than those who infrequently participate in these activities.

"There is a tendency for youths to take part in risky behaviors if they are not engaged in positive, structured activities," lead researcher Gustavo Carlo of the University of Missouri said in a news release. "Many rural communities have suffered from the economic downturn and are unable to offer opportunities for youth activities. Financial stress can also affect the psychological health of parents making them less cognizant of how children spend their time."

Carlo says his research indicates more programs that promote volunteering and helping others can decrease the chance that rural teenagers will use illicit substances in adulthood. His findings appear in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Americans participating in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) third National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on October 29 turned in more than 377,086 pounds (188.5 tons) of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,327 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the three Take Back Days to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed 995,185 pounds (498.5 tons) of medication from circulation in the past 13 months.   

"The amount of prescription drugs turned in by the American public during the past three Take-Back Day events speaks volumes about the need to develop a convenient way to rid homes of unwanted or expired prescription drugs," said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "DEA remains hard at work to establish just such a drug disposal process, and will continue to offer take-back opportunities until the proper regulations are in place.  

"With the continued support and hard work of our more than 3,945 state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners, these three events have dramatically reduced the risk of prescription drug diversion and abuse, and increased awareness of this critical public health issue," said Leonhart.  

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for one month.  Often, some of these medicines languish in the home and are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high-more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, and inhalants combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that the majority of teens who abuse prescription drugs obtain them from family and friends for free, including from the home medicine cabinet. Many Americans simply do not know how to properly dispose of their unused or expired medicine, often flushing it down the toilet or throwing it away.  These methods can pose both safety and environmental hazards.

Four days after DEA's first Take-Back Day event September 25, 2010, Congress passed legislation amending the Controlled Substances Act to allow the DEA to develop a permanent process for people to safely and conveniently dispose of their prescription drugs.  After President Obama signed the Safe and Secure Drug Disposal Act of 2010 on October 12, DEA immediately began developing regulations for a more permanent solution.

Manchester, NH - Dr. Howard Koh, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Health of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, today joined with the state health commissioners from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont in

Manchester, NH, to call on New England health and policy leaders to work together to accelerate progress on tobacco control and prevention. The remarks were made just prior to Dr. Koh's hosting of a New England Tobacco Town Hall which drew approximately 225 participants from the region.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in this country and in the region, killing 20,000 New Englanders each year. While New England has been a leader in policies to prevent tobacco use, help smokers quit and reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, tobacco use continues to be all too prevalent among particular populations here and across the country, including low income adults (39.4% smoke nationally), the uninsured (35.5% smoke nationally) and military personnel (30.6% nationally) - all dramatically higher than the national smoking rate of 19.4% for adults. Annually, health care costs from tobacco amount to $1.63 billion in Connecticut, $602 million in Maine, $3.54 billion in Massachusetts, $564 million in New Hampshire, $506 million in Rhode Island and $233 million in Vermont.

While addressing the audience of tobacco control experts, health organizations, lawmakers, business leaders, and healthcare providers, Dr. Koh discussed both the urgency of ending the tobacco epidemic and the Obama Administration's commitment helping tobacco users quit and preventing kids from starting.

We have within our grasp the capacity to eliminate the harms from tobacco dependence in our society. We know how to end the tobacco epidemic and under President Obama's leadership we are committed to advancing progress towards our shared goal of a society free of tobacco-related death and disease, said Koh.

Dr. Jose Montero, New Hampshire's Health Director thanked Dr. Koh and the attendees on behalf of his peers from the neighboring New England states. As the senior public health official from the host state for this important convening, Dr. Montero said, It was an honor to host the New England states for such an important event. The rates of tobacco use have been declining, but it is still a leading cause of death and disease in New England and we can and must do more to encourage people to quit and not start in the first place.

In addition to those who attended the Town Hall in person, the event was webcast live to tobacco control and health experts throughout the country. To view the webcast, visit: http://www.edifymultimedia.com/webcast/player.htm

Attendees committed to working together to actualize a vision for dramatically reducing tobacco use in New England in order to save lives and decrease healthcare costs.

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

All are welcome to attend! For more information regarding the Coos County Coalition or the Littleton ATOD Task Force, please contact Diana Gibbs at 259-3700 or at dgibbs@nchcnh.org.