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SAPCA Members,
Join SAPCA in celebrating Alcohol Awareness Month in April. We are launching our Youtube channel! Check out our first video, where three Alexandria teens talk about what keeps them above the influence of alcohol and other drugs.
 | | Staying Above the Influence - Teens' Views |
The SAPCA Club at TC Williams will have information tables with fun games at TC Williams during lunch times in April.
I hope to see you at the quarterly meeting on April 10, 7 p.m., at Francis Hammond Middle School, 4646 Seminary Road.
Noraine |
SAPCA Celebrates Kick Butts Day (4/20)
On Kick Butts Day, March 20, over 40 Alexandria youth, supported by adults, celebrated by conducting Operation Storefront, where they filled out surveys on the amount of tobacco advertising in over 60 local stores. Kick Butts Day is a national day of activism that engages youth in a variety of activities designed to raise awareness about the problems of tobacco use in the schools and in the community.
Mayor Euille kicked off the campaign by telling the students how explicitly they are targeted by tobacco companies.
Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria Club Members and TC Juniors, Emma West and Cassie Cowart told students about the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, a law that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry.
The Kick Butts Day activities were sponsored by SAPCA, the Clean and Smoke Free Air Coalition of Alexandria, Y Street, and the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Activities.
Check out the press coverage in the Alexandria Times and the Old Town Patch. |
On Thursday, March 14, Alexandria police conducted alcohol compliance checks at several businesses throughout the City. This awareness and enforcement campaign focused on various retail business locations that sell alcoholic beverages. Prior to the enforcement efforts, uniformed officers visited businesses throughout the City and provided education and awareness information for the businesses and their employees.
Forty businesses were checked and six arrests were made for the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages to a person under the age of 21. SAPCA and the Alexandria Police Department sent a letter to the 34 stores that passed congratulating them on not selling alcohol to minors. |
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Help Stop Marijuana Legalization Before it Starts
On November 6th 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington State approved a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for recreational use by adults. Key Administration officials have not yet made any public statements about what the federal response to these initiatives will be, given that they are clearly in violation of federal law.
It is imperative that key Administration officials and members of Congress hear loud and clear from coalitions across the country that the recently approved state ballot measures are illegal under federal law.
Use the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's CapWiz system to send letters to these key officials, urging them to swiftly and publicly declare the recently approved ballot measures illegal. |
SAPCA Quarterly Meeting (4/10)
Wednesday, April 10, 7-8:30 p.m., Francis Hammond Middle School Library, 4646 Seminary Road.
Join SAPCA members in discussing the results from the recent Alexandria Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance surveys concerning substance use. |
Risky Behavior Presentations (4/23-25)
SAPCA, the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy and the Alexandria Gang Prevention Community Task Force will present "It's Never Too Early and Never Too Late to Talk to Your Kids" at FACE centers during the week of April 23.
Mon. April 22 6:30 p.m. John Adams Elementary School, 5651 Rayburn Ave.
Tues. April 23 6:30 p.m. Brent Place, 375 South Reynolds St.
Wed. April 24 6:30 p.m. Cora Kelly STEM, 3600 Commonwealth Ave.
Thurs. April 25 6:30 p.m. Community Lodgings, 607 Notabene Dr.
Register online or by calling 703.824.6865. |
SAPCA Annual Retreat (4/25)
Thursday, April 25, 4 - 8 p.m., 720 North Saint Asaph St., 4th floor conference room.
RSVP to [email protected]. |
Prescription Drug Take Back Day (4/27)
SAPCA is partnering with local law enforcement for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop off locations are the Alexandria Police Department, 3600 Wheeler Avenue and the Del Ray Pharmacy, 2204 Mount Vernon Ave. Please plan to drop off your unused prescription drugs!
Governor Bob McDonnell issued a Proclamation recognizing April 2013 as Prescription Medicine Take Back Month in the Commonwealth of Virginia. |
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UPCOMING PARTNERS' EVENTS |
FACE Center Spring Workshops
The Alexandria City Public Schools FACE Center has published a listing of free parent/student workshops and family sessions that are being offered during the winter and spring. Register online or by calling 703.824.6865. |
Human Trafficking Workshop (5/7)
Topics for this free training include: human trafficking and current local trends in sex trafficking, identification of victims, and how to access local resources.
The training will take place on Tuesday, May 7, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m, at First Baptist Church, 2932 King Street. Registration information can be found on the flyer. |
Gang Prevention Community Task Force Meeting (5/15)
The Task Force will meet on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., in the Council Workroom at City Hall, 301 King Street. |
ACAP Quarterly Meeting (5/23)
The Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy will meet on Thursday, May 23, 4 - 5:30 p.m., location TBD. Contact Lisette Torres at [email protected] for more information. |
High School: A Survivor's Manual (5/16)
This year Peers Influence Peers Partnership XIX: "High School: A Survivor's Manual" is an hour-long documentary that addresses the issues of bullying, perscription drug misuse, eating disorders and teenage depression. Teens created this video for their peers and it will get them talking and thinking.
This broadcast will air on May 16, 1 to 2 p.m. Click here to register. |
Former DEA Chiefs Call on Government to Challenge State Marijuana Laws
Eight former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called on the federal government Tuesday to challenge laws in Colorado and Washington state that legalize the recreational use of marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. On the same day, a United Nations agency said the state laws violate international narcotics conventions.
In its annual report, the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors the implementation of international drug-control conventions, said it "stresses the importance of universal implementation of the international drug control treaties by all States parties and urges the Government of the United States to take necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the international drug control treaties in its entire territory."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder last week said he is in the final stages of reviewing the state laws, the article notes. |
Even a Little Pot Use Ups College Dropout Risk
In a recent issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Arria and her colleagues reported that students with high levels of marijuana use (more than 17 days a month) were twice as likely as those with minimal use (less than a day a month) to have an enrollment gap while in college. But even students who used pot less often, in the range of three to 12 days a month, were more likely to experience enrollment gaps.
College students who use marijuana and other illegal substances, even occasionally, are more likely to leave school than students who don't dabble in drugs, new research finds. There's a strong link between marijuana use and "discontinuous enrollment," said study author Dr. Amelia Arria, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The same goes for other illicit drugs, she added.
Aria said it's key to point out that their results were independent of other factors such as demographics, high school GPA, fraternity or sorority enrollment, personality type, risk-taking behaviors, and a student's use of tobacco and alcohol. |
Middle school students who date report using twice as much alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, compared with their classmates without romantic relationships, a new study finds. Students who date in middle school also have significantly worse study skills, and are four times more likely to drop out of school, compared with their single classmates, Science Daily reports.
Researchers at the University of Georgia studied 624 students over seven years, starting when they were in sixth grade. Each year, the students completed a survey that asked about dating, substance use and other behaviors. The study looked at the students' high school dropout rates, and annual teacher-rated study skills. |
The first national study to identify alcohol brands consumed by underage youth finds the top 25 brands accounted for almost half of youth alcohol consumption. Nearly 28 percent of underage drinkers consumed Bud Light in the past month, while 17 percent drank Smirnoff malt beverages and 15 percent drank Budweiser.
Underage drinkers consume far fewer brands than adults tend to drink, according to study co-author David Jernigan, PhD, Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study found that other brands popular among underage youth include Smirnoff Vodkas, Coors Light, Jack Daniel's Bourbons, Corona Extra, Mike's, Captain Morgan Rums and Absolut Vodkas.
Dr. Jernigan says this report paves the way for future studies to examine the link between exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing efforts, and drinking in young people. |
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Noraine Buttar, MPH
720 North Saint Asaph Street Alexandria, VA 22314 703.746.3670 (office) 703.887.8812 (mobile) [email protected]
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