The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a factual-based repository and assessment organization that is created to furnish the general public with dependable data regarding mental health and substance abuse intervention and prevention programs. The current paper will analyze two prevention programs, namely Talk They Hear You and the Synar Program, in terms of the influence of government policy on their effectiveness, the programs’ goals, funding, effectiveness and marketing strategies.
According to Doweiko, substance abuse has been the most pervasive mental health problem that the society has encountered for a long time. The effects of this issue range from lifelong consequences such as addiction to protracted health complications. Alcohol is the most popular recreational drug that is abused by the youth. The Talk They Hear You program created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is an Underage Drinking National Media Campaign that attempts to empower parents and guardians to talk to their children in their formative years about alcohol. The main goal of this program is to actively involve parents in preventing underage drinking, to provide them with the information, expertise and confidence to constrain underage drinking, and to raise parent’s understanding on the pervasiveness and dangers of underage drinking.
The Talk They Hear campaign is sponsored by SAMHSA and several other supporters, such as Faces and Voices of Recovery, the National Prevention Program, Rockers in Recovery, the Office of National Drug Control Policy among others. The program is marketed by means of web banners and buttons, posters Public Service Announcements (print, radio and TV), as well as social platforms and a mobile application.
According to the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies , underage drinking can be controlled by a community’s collective responsibility with consideration of the discussed matter.
Government support through the Office of National Drug Control Policy enhances the program’s effectiveness.
The history of tobacco use in the United States can be traced back to its use by Native Americans and the establishment of European colonies in the New World which was partly provoked by the high demand for tobacco in Europe. The primary aspect of tobacco abuse is cigarette smoking. An increasing number of adolescents begin to smoke every day, and eventually become habitual smokers in their youthful years. In order to fight this tendency Congress ratified the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Reorganization Act (PL 102-321) including a revision. The Synar Amendment named after its sponsor – former Oklahoma Congressman Mike Synar – and its implementing regulation require all states to enforce regulations that outlaw the sale of tobacco to persons that did not reach the age of eighteen. Through the Synar Program, SAMHSA fulfils the responsibility for ensuring that the Synar Regulations are implemented in all states.
Currently, there is a lack of a centralized source of funding for states to utilize in executing the Synar prerequisites. States may disburse funds from their Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant to cater for administrative facets like performing inspections.
Results from a study by Chaloupka and Pacula (1998) conducted to analyze the effectiveness of the Synar Amendment indicate that teenagers are less likely to smoke cigarettes in states due to the adoption of strict regulations when public smoking is concerned. Moreover, with this regard, uncompromising and all-inclusive tactics to measure retailer acquiescence to youth access laws are enforced.
About the author
Rico Shenk has been the lead blog writer at nursing paper writing service since 2018. His passion for helping people in all aspects of online marketing flows through in the expert industry coverage he provides. In addition to blog writing, Rico is interested in technical writing and copywriting services.
