Wood County Prevention Coalition
Uniting For A Drug-Free Community Since 2004
Featured Speaker for April 28th Coalition Announced
The next Wood County Coalition meeting is set to take place at the Wood County Educational Service Center on April 28, 2017 from 8:30 AM to 10 AM and the featured presenter will be Scott C. Martin, PhD, Bowling Green State University History Professor and Department Chair.
Today’s opiate epidemic has become a public health problem and has received a lot of attention in the media. Scott C. Martin will present on our nation’s past history with opioids and addiction, which in many ways parallels our current issues.
Scott C. Martin is a social and cultural historian who specializes in the 19th-century United States and the history of drugs and alcohol. Since receiving his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 he has taught at the University of California, Riverside, and, since 1993, BGSU. He has written or edited books on 19th-century American leisure, the market revolution in America, and the antebellum US temperance movement. His articles have appeared in The Journal of the Early Republic, The Journal of Social History, The Journal of Family History, and The Social History of Alcohol Review. He has a chapter on 20th-century U.S. alcohol and drugs policy in the Oxford Handbook of American Political History, and is working on a book-length study on alcohol and drugs in the American Civil War. Dr. Martin is a past president of both the Alcohol and Drugs History Society and the Ohio Academy of History.
For more details about the next coalition meeting please see the flyer below. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP below or email mkarna@wces.org
Proliferation of marijuana ads alarms addiction researchers
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
As more states have legalized marijuana, advertising for the drug has become more common. In a new study, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that more than half of young pot users they surveyed have seen marijuana ads — either online or in more traditional forms of advertising such as billboards and print media.
“Advertising can be powerful,” said the study’s first author, Melissa J. Krauss, a research statistician in the Department of Psychiatry. “That’s why we’re concerned that so many young adults are seeing ads for marijuana. It’s also likely that younger, more vulnerable kids are seeing ads, too.”
The research is published March 29 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Marijuana is now legal in more than half of U.S. states. Some states allow medicinal use, while eight states have legalized recreational use.
In an online survey of 742 young adults ages 18-34 who reported recent marijuana use, the researchers found 54 percent had been exposed to or even sought out marijuana advertising in the previous month. Laws regarding marijuana advertising vary from state to state, but most of those who encountered pot advertising said they saw the ads online, either on websites or social media. Even in states where the ads are restricted, online advertising easily crosses state lines. Ads for marijuana also are prohibited on Facebook.
“But you can go on Facebook and discover pretty quickly that ads and information about dispensaries are there,” Krauss said.
Marijuana use can develop into a disorder. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 30 percent of those who use marijuana have some level of a marijuana use disorder, which can be associated with dependence on the drug.
Sununu asks businesses to increase drug abuse prevention
Associated Press
Friday, April 07, 2017
Gov. Chris Sununu cited his own efforts at the ski area he used to run and urged businesses Friday to take on a greater role in preventing opioid misuse and helping workers connect with treatment.
Sununu, a Republican and former CEO at Waterville Valley ski area, spoke at a daylong summit organized by the Opioid Task Force for Strafford County. He said schools not only need to do a better job of educating children about substance misuse prevention, but that those prevention efforts need to seamlessly continue into the workplace.
Sununu said high turnover due to employee substance misuse was costing the ski area a significant amount of money, so about two years ago, he and others created a “buddy system” to watch struggling workers with those already in recovery and began encouraging employees to ask for help.
“It’s amazing, within a week, the flood of staff that were coming in to the HR office confidentially, just opening up, talking about it,” he said. “Then quietly, we would get them the resources and partnerships they needed, and we were able to retain such a higher number of staff.”
Sununu acknowledged the company was largely “winging it,” but said he hopes other businesses will tackle the problem in a formal way.
“We were just kind of doing it on our own,” he said. “Now we’re talking about it more across the state. Now we’re understanding that prevention is more than just in schools ... prevention doesn’t stop because you leave the 12th grade.”
Sununu was followed by representatives from two companies that have already done what he’s asking other businesses to do.
FLYER FOR THE WCPC COMMUNITY COALITION MEETING on APRIL 28th
RSVP to the next WCPC Community Meeting!
Wood County Prevention Coalition Meeting
Friday, Apr 28, 2017, 08:30 AM
Wood County Educational Service Center, 1867 N Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
About Us
Our Vision: Helping youth be drug-free, productive and responsible citizens.
Our Mission: We are a coalition of compassionate community members working together to coordinate high quality programs for the prevention of youth substance abuse in Wood County.
Email: mkarna@wcesc.org
Website: wcprevention.org
Location: 1867 Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: (419)-354-9010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPCoalition
Twitter: @woodpccoalition