Press Releases


	News Release

	Date:	March 24, 2003
	Media Contact:	SAMHSA Media
	Phone:	301-443-8956



	SAMHSA and Scholastic Provide Underage Drinking Materials to Classrooms Nationwide

	The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration (SAMHSA) and Scholastic, Inc., are collaborating on a successful curriculum for fifth grade teachers, their students and parents, to prevent underage drinking. Classrooms nationwide are receiving a two-part set of underage drinking-related materials including Reach Out Now: Talk with Your Fifth Graders about Underage Drinking, a four- page set of lessons and in-class activities for teachers to use. There is also a take-home packet for students and their parents entitled Talk With Your Fifth Grader about Underage Drinking. "While we know that the majority of youth do not drink, research data tell us that the age at which children begin experimenting with alcohol has been dropping," said Charles G. Curie, Administrator of SAMHSA. "This data from SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse strongly suggests that our messages must reach younger populations - those in fifth and sixth grades. Reach Out Now is designed to influence children through their teachers and schools, as well as their families, by providing proven prevention activities." The 2001 Household Survey found that over 4 million youngsters aged 12-17 had used alcohol at least once in the month immediately prior to the survey. This increased from 3.8 million in 2000. Over 8 million youth aged 12-17 used alcohol in the past year in 2001, and over 10 million in that age group had used alcohol sometime in their lifetime. To counter the trend toward underage drinking at earlier and earlier ages, Reach Out Now provides lessons on understanding the effects of alcohol; a science experiment in which students observe the effects of pouring alcohol on an egg; and a unit on making healthy decisions by using critical-thinking skills and finding alternative activities to drinking. The Family Resource Guide suggests that parents and care givers maintain good lines of communication, get involved in the child's life, make and enforce clear and consistent rules, serve as a positive role model, help a child know how to choose friends wisely, and be aware of the child's activities. To help parents take these steps, activities for each are suggested. For example, in one activity, the parent helps the child develop different ways of refusing alcohol using roleplaying. Parents are also encouraged to create a family calendar to keep track of the activities of all family members so that the parent is more involved in the child's life. This is the second year of Reach Out Now. In 2002, Reach Out Now materials were distributed to nearly 100,000 teachers and more than 3 million students nationwide. The materials were developed by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and Scholastic, Inc., and were based on research supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and CSAP. The public/private partnership allows SAMHSA to merge its knowledge about underage drinking prevention with Scholastic, Inc.'s reputation for excellence in the development of classroom materials. In 2002, more than 3/4 of all teachers surveyed (78 percent) recalled receiving the program. The average for similar supplemental in-school programs is 46 percent. Of those who recalled receiving the materials, when surveyed, 67 percent had already used the program and another 21 percent said they planned to use it. Almost half of teachers using or planning to use the materials shared it with an average of two other teachers, as well. The Reach Out Now materials have been enthusiastically received by the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a consortium of governors' spouses from states across the country who are helping to raise awareness of the underage drinking problem and encouraging use of the materials. SAMHSA, NIAAA, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and four other federal agencies and offices support the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free nationwide initiative. The Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools program has also announced the availability of the materials for use in school-based programs.

	The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead federal agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment and mental health services in the United States. Information on SAMHSA's programs is available on this website, www.samhsa.gov.