(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 13, 2009 ) Springfield, MO -- According to the results of the 2008 Monitoring the Future (MTF) report released last month, abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications continue to be very popular among high school students, and marijuana use, which had shown a decline since the mid-1990s, appears to have leveled off – in fact, compared to 2007, fewer 8th graders report perceiving marijuana as harmful.

Café Prevention (http://www.cafeprevention.com) is pleased to announce the arrival of new hard-hitting, creative and very affordable prevention materials designed specifically to address prescription, over-the-counter, and marijuana use by youth. These drug prevention materials provide factual and user-friendly information to help one’s city, county, school, youth organization or congregation tackle these issues.

A Community Toolkit (http://cafeprevention.com/products_new.php) to Prevent Prescription and Over the Counter Drug Abuse has been released and makes it easy to implement proven strategies in the community. This toolkit includes PowerPoint presentations for both youth and adult populations; fact sheets for retailers, healthcare providers, schools, and parents; handouts that may be revised to reflect specific community information; as well as the ‘How To’s’ of implementing a “Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet” campaign, and much more. Poster and postcards to complement the Toolkit are also available at Café Prevention.com.

The MTF report confirms that slightly over 1 in 10 high school seniors reported using the powerful pain reliever Vicodin, although tranquilizers, sedatives, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs such as Ritalin are also popular. Join Together reported that Lloyd Johnston, Ph.D., with the MTF study, stated that prescription drug abuse will be “difficult to deal with because the source of these drugs is an informal network….not dealers.”

Café Prevention’s posters on marijuana have been updated and their newest drug prevention poster, titled “Are You All There?” is guaranteed to get the attention of the teen population. Indicating its effectiveness, focus groups, composed of teens, report this poster ‘makes them stop and read’, and ‘really stood out on the wall.’

According to the Monitoring the Future Study, marijuana continues to be the most common illicit drug used by teens, with nearly 33% of high school seniors reported having used it at least once in the past year.

The Community Toolkit, as well as Café Prevention’s many 5x7 postcards and posters on prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse, including their posters on marijuana prevention (http://cafeprevention.com/Marijuana/c24/p225/Poster---Are-You-All-There&%2363;/product_info.html), will aid parents and authority figures in helping young people combat the pressures of substance abuse and marijuana use.


Designed to deliver critical information in an affordable and engaging format, these latest materials, in addition to the extensive resources available on CafePrevention.com, form the basis for many educational campaigns in communities around the country. For more information, or to place an order, please visit http://www.cafeprevention.com.

Contact Info:
CafePrevention.com
Melissa Haddow - Executive Director
330 North Jefferson Ave
Springfield, MO 65806
Tel: 417-888-2020
mhaddow@commpartnership.org
http://www.cafeprevention.com

Contact Information:
Community Partnership
Melissa Haddow - Executive Director
Tel: 417-888-2020
Email us