Adams county targeted youth prescription and opioid drug initiative - collaborating for youth, a successful drug free communities coalition serving adams county, pennsylvania communities for over 20…

Adams county targeted youth prescription and opioid drug initiative - collaborating for youth, a successful drug free communities coalition serving adams county, pennsylvania communities for over 20 years, proposes the adams county targeted youth prescription and opioid drug initiative activating the strategic prevention framework model of prevention to reduce and prevention youth opioid and prescription drug use in rural southcentral pennsylvania communities. This approach targets identified school district community catchment areas based on data-driven needs and a progression of substance abuse trends over an eight year span with growing concern for youth opioid / prescription drug use and misuse, low perceptions of the risk of use, feelings of acceptability towards use and high availability and access. The project builds upon the strength of youth voice and peer-to-peer as well as caregiver influences to mitigate a growing drug crisis. The objectives under the goal of eliminating youth opioid / prescription drug use / misuse include: increasing the involvement of youth in school district and county based youth leadership and substance free activities, engaging youth in substance prevention education and leadership among peers through increasing perceptions of the risk of opioid/ prescription drug use/ misuse, enhancing youth skills and education along with patient education and prevention education plans where federal, state and local funds have diminished, and engaging partnership within culturally diverse populations and with local community sector representatives to foster real and lasting change. The objectives under the goal of changing the culture and context regarding the acceptability of youth opioid and prescription drug use / misuse include: decreasing access to prescription drugs/ opioid drugs in home and community settings, increasing school and caregiver abilities to take a clear stand against this misuse while educating caregivers on how to talk to youth around prescription drug / opioid use / misuse, and development of resources for support as well as objectives to establish further bilingual supports with cultural and linguistic competence for a growing spanish language speaking population in our local communities. Our objectives include community awareness and education and with direct involvement from 12 sector representation aligned with the 7 strategies for community change that help build lasting collaborative solutions for our rural communities in the commonwealth along the maryland border. With a strong community coalition, committed to reducing and preventing youth opioid and prescription drug use/ misuse and the use of these evidence-based strategies in strong partnership the proposed approach has high likelihood to not only reduce substance use in our region, but most importantly to save our young people?s lives.