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For the first time a made in Europe youth drug prevention project was developed and tested thanks to funding from the European Commission. After six years the European Drug Addiction Prevention Project has ended and has left behind an effective program to prevent the use of drugs. In short, EU-Dap developed and tested a school-based alcohol, tobacco and drugs prevention program in seven European countries. The drug prevention program named Unplugged is still being used today by not only the EU-Dap study group but also many other countries beyond Europe.
The EU-Dap school materials named Unplugged are available free of charge. The materials involve a 12-lesson teacher manual, a student workbook and two card games for youth. Please visit www.eudap.net to download these free materials.

18 November 2009 marked the start of the EU-SPR. A Meeting in Rome founded the Society. See Website

Apolo Anton Ohno, the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian in history and star of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, (eight-record breaking Olympic medals in short-track speed skating) has partnered with The Century Council and its Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix program. Today in Greenwood Village, Ohno, in conjunction with the newly formed Apolo Anton Ohno Foundation, began a five-city tour to schools throughout the U.S. encouraging kids to say “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to underage drinking. The Apolo Anton Ohno Foundation, established by the eight-time Olympic medalist, will focus on providing youth of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds with the opportunity to play sports, be active and learn about the benefits of making responsible and positive choices. (Source: Medical News Today, 3/8/10)

‘Side Stepping Alcohol Misuse’, an alcohol awareness project run by London Active Communities and Premier Rugby, is due to kick off across the country this month after receiving £100,000 funding from the charity, Drinkaware. The ground-breaking new youth inclusion project will see specially trained community staff from Premiership Rugby Clubs and local youth workers deliver sports-based alcohol education to young people aged 13 to 19. The programme will target hard to reach and disadvantaged communities in 12 areas, including Newcastle, Leeds and London. (Source: Medical News Today, 3/5/10)

A growing number of colleges are alerting parents whenever their children under age 21 are involved in alcohol-related incidents at school. Previously, schools like Virginia Tech would only inform parents if the student’s alcohol use resulted in arrest or a hospital visit. …Colleges also have realized that parents can be very effective in changing student drinking behavior. “Students are more concerned about their parents being notified than they are of the legal consequences,” said Edward Spencer, vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech. (Source: Join Together, 2/26/10)

Public service advertising campaigns that use guilt or shame to warn against alcohol abuse can actually have the reverse effect, spurring increased drinking among target audiences, according to new research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. (Source: Medical News Today, 2/25/10)

Parents who try to teach responsible drinking by letting their teenagers have alcohol at home may be well intentioned, but they may also be wrong, according to a new study in the latest issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. In a study of 428 Dutch families, researchers found that the more teenagers were allowed to drink at home, the more they drank outside of home as well. What’s more, teens who drank under their parents’ watch or on their own had an elevated risk of developing alcohol-related problems. (Source: Medical News Today,  1/28/10)  Comment:  A very important study.

First Monitoring Progress Report All available translations. Released: 13 January 2010 Comment: It’s interesting to see how many preventive activities came from the alcohol industry and to see that just nothing has changed to the better. To the contrary.

Alcohol consumption among adolescents is a serious public health concern. Research has shown that prevention programs targeting parents can help prevent underage drinking. The problem is that parental participation in these kinds of interventions is generally low. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine non-participation in a parental support program aiming to prevent underage alcohol drinking. The Health Belief Model has been used as a tool for the analysis. (Source: BMC Public Health, 12/21/09)

Environmental prevention strategies need to be coupled with interventions targeting high-risk individuals to effectively combat campus binge drinking, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Researchers said that half a million college students in the U.S. suffered injuries each year as a result of binge drinking. Many of those injuries are suffered by frequent, heavy drinkers, up to 40 percent of whom have been injured due to drinking, according to the study. (Source: Join Together, 12/18/09)