Blog: Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Events - Juvenile Justice and Adolescent Substance Abuse

• September is National Youth Court Month, and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) has posted resources about them to celebrate. Also called "teen courts" and "peer courts," youth courts are an alternative disposition for youth who've committed low-level, first-time offenses in which teens hold each other accountable. (Hat tip to OJJDP.) UPDATED: Global Youth Justice is hosting a conference titled, "Establish or Enhance a local Teen Court/Youth Court Diversion Program," December 7-9, 2010, in Las Vegas. (H/t to John Kelly at Youth Today.)
• Don't miss out on the National Take Back Initiative, sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Held on September 25, 2010, 10am-2pm (local time, I believe), law enforcement agencies are collaborating with the DEA to collect unused prescription drugs.  Find a collection site near you. (H/t to @SPHEREproject.)

Could juvenile justice agencies and Medicaid agencies work together to make sure teens in the juvenile justice system get evidence-based care when it comes to treatment for substance abuse, mental health issues, and medical care?
Could they improve the continuity of health care for youth leaving the justice system for the community? 

Adolescent Substance Abuse and Related Treatment News

• Is marijuana a "gateway" to other drug use? Not so much, according to new research, and "over-criminalizing" its use can contribute to young adults' use of other illicit drugs. According to the study, race and ethnicity are the best predictors of whether someone will use illicit drugs besides marijuana: non-Hispanic whites are more likely to use them than are (in order) Hispanics or African Americans. Furthermore, although marijuana use in one's teen years might lead to use of other drugs, youth apparently "age out" of that when they reach 21. Unemployment is a factor too, which suggests that, as one researcher concluded, "over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment opportunities." (Hat tip to Robert Ackley.) Related reading: Jeff Butts on "The Enduring Gateway Myth."
• Teen use of alcohol and drugs can be significantly reduced with brief, school-based interventions by mental health therapists or even by teachers given minimal training, according to a new study from the U.K. Researchers evaluated their use of alcohol and drugs at six months post-intervention, so it's not clear if the effects would need to be repeated on a regular basis.

Adapted from a post by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is pleased to announce the availability of five six new e-learning courses for substance abuse treatment professionals:

• Prescription Medication (Part 1): Misuse, Abuse, and Dependence;
• Prescription Medication (Part 2): Addressing Addiction;
• Organizational Development: Governance and the Board of Directors;
• Organizational Development: Marketing as Collaboration; 
• Organizational Development: Using Financial Information as a Nonfinancial CEO; and
• Acamprosate: A New Medication for Alcohol Use Disorders

These courses provide an opportunity for professional growth as well as one continuing education unit per module for maintaining certification or licensure. Learn more.

These courses are a great development. Looking forward to SAMHSA adding more courses -- especially some that are specific to adolescent substance abuse treatment!

 
Hello, I'm the new voice of the Reclaiming Futures Facebook page. I'm new to the fields of juvenile justice and adolescent treatment but I’m learning fast. I thought I'd share what I'm learning and ask for your advice.
 
Helpful Facebook Pages

Here are two lists of Facebook pages that have been helpful to me in not only learning more about juvenile justice and adolescent treatment, but also in becoming acquainted with Reclaiming Futures’ peer groups. These lists might be helpful to others… even to seasoned practitioners who are new to Facebook or are looking for fresh sources of info.

Substance abuse is often a factor in families where the children are chronically neglected. That's why you might want to take part in webinar-plus-online-forum being put on by the American Humane Association, the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, and the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare. (Hat tip: Paul Savery.)

Juvenile Justice Reform in Jeopardy, or Headed for a Golden Age? 

• The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) may be in trouble, if Congress reauthorizes it without increased funding for states to comply. That could mean that cash-strapped states may opt out, despite its long success and the high marks given to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the training and technical assistance it provides to support the JJDPA. What would happen in your state, if the federal allocation was reduced or stayed the same? 

Are you a researcher with a background or interest in juvenile drug courts? Know someone who fits the bill?
Then check out a new grant solicitation from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to evaluate juvenile drug courts implemented with the Reclaiming Futures model. These sites have also been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
This goal of this three-year grant is "to conduct an independent evaluation of the combined effects of the two interventions to determine what system-level changes may result in increased efficiencies and cost effectiveness."
Objectives(as listed in the solicitation):

1. Assess the operations of juvenile drug courts/Reclaiming Futures model using established indices for performance, efficiencies, and cost effectiveness.
2. Improve the empirical knowledge base about juvenile drug courts and the Reclaiming Futures model.
3. Analyze the efficacy of combined efforts of juvenile drug courts and the Reclaiming Futures model.
4. Conduct case studies using administrative, collaboration, and quality indices and the sixteen (16) key elements of juvenile drug courts.
5. Evaluate the potential for replication of these models

Application deadline is August 20, 2010.

[The following post on adolescent substance abuse and the fight over legalizing marijuana is reposted with permission from Jim Gogek's excellent new blog, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, or atodblog.com for short. I recommend you bookmark it - I have. Also, hat tip to Minnesota Recovery Connection for bringing the Join Together story on Gogek's blog to my attention. -Ed.]
One of the craziest arguments from the marijuana lobby is that young people should smoke marijuana because it’s less dangerous than alcohol. We were recently subjected to the strange spectacle of a group of mothers in Colorado pushing for marijuana legalization because alcohol is so dangerous for kids. There’s a whole organization dedicated to this cause. I’ll let you find the website yourself.