Morgan County's Rx, Opioid, and Meth Youth Prevention Program - The goal of the Morgan County Rx, Opioid, and Meth Youth Prevention Program will serve Morgan County, West Virginia, a community that has high student poverty rates (approximately 70% county-wide) and a high percentage of young people, especially middle school students, using these drugs at rates higher than the national average. To address this serious community issue the goal of the program is to; 1) reduce the abuse of these drugs by youth age 12-18 and 2) to target healthcare providers, school officials, parents and employers to raise awareness about the epidemic and to recruit these community sectors to participate in the coalition.
For goal 1, the objectives include: reducing 30-day prescription drug abuse for youth 12-18 years old by 5%, measured by the PRIDE Survey, Asset Survey, and youth focus groups, reduce 30-day Opioid (heroin) and Methamphetamines use for youth grades 6-12 by 5%, measured by the Pride Survey, Asset Survey, focus groups, and law enforcement interviews.
For goal 2, the objectives include: to provide educational opportunities on the Strategic Prevention Framework to hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, school personnel, parents and employers on prescription drug, opioid, and methamphetamine abuse among youth in Morgan County, as measured by the # of educational workshops attended, materials disseminated, and to provide the community with 3 anti-stigma education presentations that will help promote awareness about the opioid epidemic that is now affecting youth.
Following the Seven Strategies of Community Change, the strategies will include: providing information to increase the perception of harm and change social norms in the community, enhancing skills in the health profession by providing Rx drug abuse prevention trainings, providing support by offering youth and parent activities that reduce risk and enhance protection, increasing access to intervention, counseling, and referral services for youth, increasing barriers to youth access to prescription drugs, changing consequences by mandating students who test positive for opiates and other illicit drugs attend classes on the effects of drugs on the teenage brain, changing physical design by utilizing signs to promote proper Rx disposal practice, enhancing skills by increasing understanding of the effects of opioid (heroin) and methamphetamines on the brain, increasing access to anonymous tip line for neighborhood members who witness drug activity, providing information by increasing the perception of harm through anti-stigma education, and changing local policy for local providers to receive Naloxone/Narcan training to reduce stigma about administering the drug to overdose victims. Through these efforts, 5,500 people will be served annually, and reaching approximately 16,500 people throughout the lifetime of the grant program.
