JULY NEWSLETTER

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SAPCA Members,  
  
It's time to mingle with your fellow Alexandrians!

Alexandria will again join communities across the country in celebration of National Night Out on Tuesday, August 4. 

Last year, a number of SAPCA members visited neighborhoods and provided outreach regarding teen substance abuse prevention during National Night Out. We will partner with the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy and the Gang Prevention Task Force, forming teams, and "covering the City" with messages about our work.

 

 Responsibilities include:

  • Meeting at City Hall on August 4 at 5:30 p.m., joining a team, and receiving neighborhood assignments
  • Driving to assigned neighborhood events and interacting with neighbors (tell them of your role and involvement - talking points and flyers will be provided)
  • Having fun!

The time commitment will be from approximately 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Please let me know by Friday, July 31 if you want to join us this year!


 

Sincerely,
  
Noraine


 

IN THIS ISSUE

* SAPCA Presents wreckED to ARHA Youth Group
* Titan Takeover Teen Night (8/14)
* FREE Alexandria Youth Leadership Conference (8/17-8/19)
* Vacant Seats for Two Youth Board Members
* SAPCA is Hiring a Social Media Intern
* Prescription Drug Take Back Day (9/26)
* Act for Alexandria's Community Calendar
* E-Cigarettes May Be Just As Addictive As Cigarettes
* Three-Fourths of American Adults Want the Legal Smoking Age Raised to 21
* Almost One-Third of Teens Using Marijuana Say They Are Trying to Alleviate Boredom

SAPCA'S EVENTS

SAPCA Presents wreckED to ARHA Youth Group

Shelly Morgan, SAPCA Vice-Chair and Noraine presented wreckED to seven youth who are participating in the Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority's summer program. Ron Allen, Middle School Program Coordinator, hosted the workshop because he understands how important it is to provide facts about alcohol and other drugs to adolescents at an early age.


T
he Partnership at Drugfree.org's wreckED is a program that challenges teens to think more about their own and their friends' behavior regarding alcohol and other drugs, and to consider the consequences of getting involved. The program focuses on alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs.

 

If you work with youth and would like to host a wreckED presentation, contact Noraine at noraine.buttar@alexandriava.gov.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Titan Takeover Teen Night (8/14)

  

 

FREE Alexandria Youth Leadership Conference (8/17- 8/19)

  


 

Vacant Seats for Two Youth Board Members

  

SAPCA has two vacant seats for youth members on the Board. Members will start serving in September.  

 

As a board member:

  • You will help plan the programs and activities that reduce youth substance use and abuse in the City of Alexandria. 
  • You will bring strong youth leadership and valuable opinions to SAPCA's board
  • You will attend meetings once a month from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
  • You will participate in SAPCA's activities. Check out our website to see what these activities are - www.preventitalexandria.org  

If you are interested, please send me a paragraph telling me about yourself. Include activities,clubs, volunteer experience, and why you are interested in serving on SAPCA's board.  

  

Please contact me at 703-746-3670 or noraine.buttar@alexandriava.gov with any questions.


Applications are due by Friday, August 21. Applicants are encouraged to attend the Youth Leadership Conference


 

SAPCA is Hiring a Social Media Intern

  

SAPCA is hiring one paid social media intern for the 2015-2016 school year. The selected candidate will generate content related to substance abuse prevention and should expect to commit up to 4 hours a week. Applications are available on preventitalexandria.org; any completed applications or questions related to this opportunity should be sent to noraine.buttar@alexandriava.gov.  Applications are due by Friday, August 21. 
 

Click here to apply.

Prescription Drug Take Back Day (9/26)

  


 

UPCOMING PARTNERS' EVENTS

Check out Act for Alexandria's Community Calendar for fun events!

NATIONAL NEWS

E-Cigarettes May Be Just As Addictive As Cigarettes
article from Time:
 
The most addictive form of nicotine commonly found in cigarettes is often the same as the one found in cigarettes.

Vapers-or e-cigarette smokers-aren't any safer from developing addiction, finds a new study released Thursday.

 

The basis of the pro-vaping argument has been that e-cigarettes don't contain the harmful chemicals in and byproducts of tobacco cigarettes.There's nicotine, to be sure, but not all nicotine is the same. Vaping proponents have said that the type found in cigarettes is a highly addictive form, and the type of nicotine in e-cigarettes is less addicting.

 

But a new study, published in the American Chemical Society'sChemical Research in Toxicology, indicates that nine out of 17 common, commercially available e-cigarettes contained the most addictive kind of nicotine.

 

Critics have long held that e-cigs contain ingredients that make themessentially a cigarette in terms of addictive power. There is also evidence that e-cigs may not be an effective means to quitting (some research shows that 75% of Americans who vape also smoke).

 

Three-Fourths of American Adults Want the Legal Smoking Age Raised to 21

Three-quarters of U.S. adults favor raising the minimum tobacco age of sale to 21 years, including seven in 10 smokers, according to a new government study.


S
upport for raising the minimum smoking age was strongest among older adults and those who never smoked, HealthDay reports. The study found 11 percent of adults strongly oppose raising the smoking age to 21, while 14 percent said they were somewhat opposed. The study appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.


"Raising the minimum age of sale [of tobacco products] to 21 could benefit the health of Americans in several ways," Brian King of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, said in a news release. "It could delay the age of first experimenting with tobacco, reducing the likelihood of transitioning to regular use and increasing the likelihood that those who do become regular users can quit."

 

In June, Hawaii became the first state to pass a law raising the legal smoking age to 21. The law also outlaws the sale, purchase or use of e-cigarettes for anyone under 21. The measure will take effect on January 1, 2016.

 

The Institute of Medicine issued a report earlier this year that concluded if every state were to immediately ban tobacco sales to those under 21, the smoking rate would fall 12 percent. The decrease would prevent 249,000 premature deaths among the generation born between 2000 and 2019, the report noted.

 

Almost One-Third of Teens Using Marijuana Say They Are Trying to Alleviate Boredom


A study of why teens use marijuana finds almost one-third say they use the drug to alleviate boredom, HealthDay reports. Teens who use marijuana because they are bored are more likely to also use cocaine, the study found.


The researchers found marijuana use itself was not a risk factor for using other drugs. While people do generally use marijuana before other drugs, it does not mean marijuana is a cause of using those other drugs, according to lead researcher Joseph Palamar of New York University Langone Medical Center.

 

The findings appear in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. The new study focused on high school seniors who reported marijuana use in the past year. The study looked at their self-reported use of other illicit drugs, including powder cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD, other psychedelics, amphetamines, tranquilizers and other narcotics.

 

Teens who said they used marijuana "to experiment" had a lower risk of using any of the eight other drugs, the study found. Lead researcher Joseph Palamar said this indicates teens who say they are trying marijuana just to try it are often at low risk for moving on to other drugs.

CONTACT INFO

Noraine Buttar, MPH
421 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
703.746.3670 (office)
703.887.8812 (mobile)
noraine.buttar@alexandriava.gov