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This paper describes the development and impact of an underage drinking reduction program designed and implemented by a South Carolina county sheriff's office with assistance from the county coalition. In December 2017, high school surveys identified family and friends as the alcohol source 82.2% of the time. In Summer 2018, sheriff deputies began visiting with almost all high school seniors, i.e., 1,352 high school senior visits. Deputies reminded parents to not provide alcohol to anyone under 21 years old. School surveys were conducted pre-program (December 2017), during (April 2018 and September 2018) and post-program (April 2020). Comparing the pre-effort results with post surveys found a 22.8% decline in 30-day drinking (p=0.01) and a 23.5% decrease in binge drinking (p=0.07). As described by Holder et al., the results provide the foundation for replication under controlled research conditions.

This study tested a three-component community prevention intervention with alcohol businesses to reduce alcohol overservice and to reduce drinking and driving crashes using a longitudinal design. The intervention involved a responsible beverage serving practices toolkit, a series of on-site visits from law enforcement, and a supporting media campaign. The effort achieved a reduction in the monthly percentage of drivers arrested for driving under the influence who cited the alcohol-licensed establishments as the place of last drink, and the number of establishments mentioned 2+ times as well as a decline in alcohol-involved crashes in the 12-month postintervention period. Results supported a conclusion that the intensive intervention media can achieve a reduction in the frequency with which drinking drivers utilized bars and restaurants and overall impaired driving-related crashes.

Most information on the prevalence of drug use comes from self-report surveys. The sensitivity of such information is cause for concern about the accuracy of self-report measures. In this study, self-reported drug use in the last 48 hr is compared to results from biological assays of saliva samples from 371 young adults entering clubs. The relationship between self-reports and drug presence in oral fluid was determined for three substances as follows: cocaine, marijuana, and amphetamine. Forty-one percent of the participants with drugs detected in their oral fluids reported no use in the last 48 hr. The significance of these results is discussed. (Contains 9 tables.)

This article reports results from a feasibility study of a community effort to reduce the availability of legal products that youth can use to get high. The study evaluated the potential of youth purchase attempts to detect actual changes in retail availability of harmful legal products. These results were triangulated with self-reports from retailers about their own policies and practices. Before the intervention, less than half of retailers reported using any of six possible strategies identified as ways to reduce youth access to harmful products, and less than 8% of baseline youth attempts to purchase potentially harmful legal products were refused or questioned. After the low-dosage intervention, retailers reported increased use of three strategies and a statistically significant increase in the percentage of purchase attempts that were either questioned or refused by retail clerks. These findings (a) demonstrate the potential feasibility of retailer-focused environmental strategies and (b) support continued use of youth purchase attempts as a measure of actual retailer behavior. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 1 note.)

Little research exists on effective strategies to prevent methamphetamine production, distribution, sales, use, and harm. As a result, prevention practitioners (especially at the local level) have little guidance in selecting potentially effective strategies. This article presents a general causal model of methamphetamine use and harms that reflects the available findings from either research specific to methamphetamine or from alcohol and other illegal drugs, and suggests prevention approaches and strategies that communities might use based upon research evidence and experience. Community methamphetamine prevention can use the public health and safety perspective applied to other substance abuse prevention. Analyses of the complex system of intermediate variables that interact to affect methamphetamine use and harms suggest that multiple reinforcing prevention interventions may have the greatest potential effectiveness. (Contains 1 figure.)

Communities across the nation have become increasingly concerned about inhalant use and use of harmful legal products among youth because of increasing prevalence rates and deleterious health consequences from abusing these products. The increasing concern of communities about inhaling and ingesting legal products has been coupled with increasing awareness and concern about ability of youth to access and abuse a variety of other legal retail products. There are few examples of scientifically designed community prevention projects that seek to reduce youth abuse of such legal products. This article describes a community prevention trial that is designed to reduce sales of inhalants and other harmful legal products to youth and demonstrates how the retailer component of the trial can be rigorously evaluated. It also shows how data from youth purchase attempts can complement survey data from retailers. (Contains 11 tables.)

The problems associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) extract a significant health, social, and economic toll on American society. While the field of substance abuse prevention has made great strides during the past decade, two major challenges remain. First, the field has been disorganized and fragmented with respect to its research and prevention practices; that is, there are often separate ATOD prevention "specialists." Second, both the prevention researchers who test the efficacy of specific prevention strategies and the practitioners who implement prevention efforts often lack an overall perspective to guide strategy selection. To address these limitations, we present an ATOD causal model that seeks to identify those variables (Domains) that are theoretically salient and empirically connected across alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs. For the researcher, the model demonstrates important commonalities, as well as gaps, in the literature. For the practitioner, the model is a means to recognize both the complexity of the community system that produces ATOD problems and the multiple intervention points that are possible within this system. Researchers and practitioners are thus challenged to work synergistically to find effective and cost-effective approaches to change or reduce ATOD use and associated problems.

This article briefly summarizes three evidence-based community intervention trials sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Designed to reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults, [...]

This article evaluates a community-based program designed to prevent alcohol-related problems. Findings indicate that changes in policies that increased drunk driving enforcement, developed community support, and established clear standards for selling alcohol in bars and retail outlets resulted in reductions in alcohol-related accidents and sales to minors while increasing community awareness.

Objective: As a first step in a thorough cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomized alcohol-treatment-matching trial (Project MATCH), the present study examines the relative costs of three manual-guided, individually delivered treatments and the costs of replicating them in nonresearch settings. Method: Costs of delivering a 12-session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a 4-session Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) and a 12-session Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF) treatment over 12 weeks were assessed for three treatment sites at two of the nine Project MATCH locations (Milwaukee, WI, and Providence, RI). Research cost calculations included clinical, administrative and training/supervision variables in determining total treatment costs, average cost per contact hour and average cost per research participant. Investigators from all nine MATCH locations estimated direct clinical costs, administrative overhead costs and training/supervision costs for replicating these treatments. Results: For Project MATCH, MET cost twice as much or more per patient contact hour (mean = $498) than CBT (mean = $198) and TSF (mean = $253) but was less costly per research participant (mean = $1,700) than both CBT (mean = $1,901) and TSF (mean = $1,969). For clinical replication, high end per patient costs ranged from $512 for MET to $750 for TSF to $788 for CBT: a cost savings for MET of $238 (32%) over TSF and $276 (35%) over CBT. Conclusions: As part of a randomized clinical trial, MATCH treatments are costly to produce. However, when estimates are used to project these costs to nonresearch clinical settings, the costs are greatly reduced. Whereas MET appears to be much less costly to deliver in nonresearch settings than the other two treatments, the estimated cost differentials are less than the 1:3 treatment session ratio for MET versus TSF or CBT. (J. Stud. Alcohol 59: 503-512, 1998), A study concerning alcohol-treatment-matching trial (Project MATCH) was conducted to find out the relative cost of three manual-guided, individually delivered treatments, and the cost of replicating the study in a non-research environment. The study found that when estimates are used to predict the cost in a non-research clinical setting, costs are reduced. Furthermore, Motivational Enhancement Therapy costs less if conducted in a non-research environment., IN THIS AGE of managed care, alcohol treatment costs are a matter of concern, not only to treatment providers and insurance carriers, but also to policy makers, clinicians and patients. [...]

Public policy by nature is prospective (i.e., it anticipates future events); research, however, is primarily retrospective (i.e., it analyzes past events). Public policy to reduce alcohol-involved problems is best formulated [...]

The elimination of retail wine monopolies in Alabama, Idaho, Maine, Montana and New Hampshire has resulted in significant increases in alcohol sales. Wine, beer and hard liquor sales data was collected for the period before and after privatization of the wine industry in each of these states. Wine sales rose abruptly in all states, from 13% in New Hampshire to 150% in Idaho, while beer and spirits sales remained relatively stable. State liquor monopolies have been effective controls of alcohol consumption.