Katherine E. Laws, BA¹, Jeffrey R.W. Knudsen, MA¹, and Matthew Margolis, BA². (1) RMC Research Corporation, 522 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 1407, Portland, OR 97204, 503-223-8248, kathy_laws@rmccorp.com, (2) Oregon Partnership, 6443 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97221

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) has devoted considerable resources to the prevention of substance use among the nation’s youth. For the past several years CSAP has made available funds for developing, implementing and testing evidenced-based methamphetamine and other illicit drug use prevention intervention programs. Oregon Partnership, a statewide non-profit prevention organization in Portland, Oregon, received a CSAP one year grant in 2002 to pilot test its Methamphetamine Awareness Project (MAP) and then in 2003, received a 3 year grant to continue implementing the program.

The presentation will provide an overview of an innovative school-based prevention program where 9th and 10th grade high school students acquire knowledge and skills from prevention professionals, law enforcement officials, and professional film makers. The students combine prevention knowledge and the film making skills learned over the course of the 4 month program to create a unique methamphetamine prevention video that they present to their peers and other audiences. The pilot program’s student created video has been extensively used by state and national organizations and received an award from the state of Oregon Governor’s Council and was recognized by SAMHSA at its National Community/Faith Based Summit in Washington D.C. Qualitative information about students’ and key stakeholders’ experiences and preliminary quantitative information of the pilot and year 1 of the 3 year grant program will also be presented. Clips of 2 videos created by program participants will be shown.

Learning Objectives: After attending this session, particpants will be able to

• identify the program's prevention theory;
• describe the key components of the prevention program; and
• list 3 inteneded outcomes of the program.

Keywords: Substance Abuse Prevention, Adolescents

Related Web page: www.methawarenessproject.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.