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Alcohol and Other Drug Resource Guide

Background

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), primary prevention education is "delivered prior to the onset of a (mental-health or substance-use) disorder to prevent or reduce the risk of developing a behavioral health problem, such as underage alcohol use, prescription drug misuse and abuse, and illicit drug use."

Research has shown that certain prevention programs are proven to reduce the likelihood of a student's future substance use and improve mental health and educational outcomes. Prevention programs accomplish this by increasing protective factors, which are environmental, biological, or relational factors that help children deal with stressful and risky events in an effective way.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide a resource guide for Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) programs, curricula, and supplementary programs. Best practices on choosing AOD programs involve usage of evidence-based, effective, and promising programs that are developmentally appropriate. Per the National Institute of Health (NIH), "evidence based" means that a program has been "rationally designed based on current scientific evidence, rigorously tested, and shown to produce positive results." Evidence-based drug prevention programs and curricula can be found on the following.

Please note: The following list is not exhaustive of available resources, nor does inclusion on this list indicate endorsement by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Information is provided to give school teams a starting point for addressing and implementing an AOD program in their school and choosing a curriculum to meet educational requirements as part of Act 55 of 2017. Additional information on promoting evidence-based programming, and updated resource guides for AOD programming can be found at the following:

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