Recognizing National Prevention Week 2021

National Prevention Week started in 2011 as another resource to start the conversation about the impact of addiction. SAMHSA saw the beginning of May as the perfect time to recognize National Prevention Week since it comes right before the start of summer. It’s a time to encourage schools, communities, and professionals to recommit to encouraging drug and alcohol use prevention.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, adolescents and young adults heading to college often try drugs or alcohol for the first time during June or July. Holding NPW at the beginning of summer provides another opportunity to support young people to stand up against the pressures they face.

When schools and youth organizations recognize National Prevention Week before the start of summer, it leaves adolescents with a lasting awareness. Encouraging them to stay alcohol- and drug-free as the school year ends may keep them from experimenting during the summer months.

SAMHSA set up National Prevention Week focused on three main areas: community involvement, partner engagement, and resource sharing. Each area of focus has its own primary goal:

• Community Involvement: Raise awareness surrounding substance use and mental health issues in communities, involve them in prevention strategy implementation, and demonstrate the benefits of evidence-based prevention programs

• Partner Engagement: Build partnerships and encourage collaborations between federal agencies and national organizations committed to improving public health

• Resource Sharing: Promote quality resources and information about drug and alcohol use prevention and mental health

Along with the areas of focus and individual goals, each day of the week is dedicated to a particular topic of interest. The daily topics for this National Prevention Week are:

This year the state of Pennsylvania made significant strides in recognizing National Prevention Week. Governor Tom Wolf issued a formal proclamation that recognized May 9th through the 15th as National Prevention Week in Pennsylvania. His moves to make the week an official observance are a step in the right direction for Pennsylvanians.

Why did Pennsylvania make such a push to recognize National Prevention Week this year? Despite efforts to curb the rising rates of drug abuse and addiction in the state, there’s still more to be done. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked the number of people turning to substances and reignited the issue.

The Commonwealth Prevention Alliance gathered a number of shocking statistics about both substance use in Pennsylvania and in the U.S. as a whole. According to resources from the CPA’s National Prevention Week toolkit:

• Binge drinkers are 2 times more likely to misuse prescription opioids
• 1 in 5 prescription opioid deaths involve alcohol
• Every 48 minutes, 1 person in the U.S. dies from an accident due to alcohol-impaired driving
• As few as 1 or 2 drinks per day may increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer
• 15 percent of deaths due to breast cancer are linked to alcohol use
• Vaping rates among 10th and 12th graders in Pennsylvania continue rising
• 38 percent of 12th graders who drank in the last 30 days reported an adult purchased the alcohol for them
• 20 percent of 10th and 12th graders reported using marijuana in the past 30 days
• 25 percent of 6th-12th grade students in Pennsylvania said they sometimes feel like life isn’t worth living

These statistics are only some of the alarming outcomes reported in a few of the many studies available. Until rates of alcohol and drug use slow, as well as the number of people impacted by mental illness, there is still work to do.