Evidence for Connections Between Prosecutor-Reported Marijuana Case Dispositions and Community Youth Marijuana-Related Attitudes and Behaviors.

This article examines relationships between local drug policy (as represented by prosecutor-reported case outcomes for first-offender juvenile marijuana possession cases) and youth self-reported marijuana use, perceived risk, and disapproval. Interviews with prosecutors and surveys of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students in the United States were conducted in 2000. Analyses include data from 97 prosecutors and students from 127 schools in 40 states.

US Public Health Agency involvement in youth-focused illicit drug policy, planning, and prevention at the local level, 1999-2003.

Objectives: We examined local public health agencies' involvement in community illicit drug policy advocacy and provision related to youths to determine the extent to which public health agencies were involved in local drug policy activities and could potentially provide an infrastructure for policy alternatives.

Methods: We conducted telephone interviews from 1999 to 2003 with 1793 US public health agencies in 804 communities surrounding schools participating in the Monitoring the Future study. Respondents reported public health agency planning, priorities, and involvement in alternative drug policy advocacy and prevention activities.

Does state certification or licensure influence outpatient substance abuse treatment program practices?

In the United States, state governments legally authorize outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. In some states, programs are certified or accredited (ideal standards). Other states license programs (minimal standards).

The role of public health agencies in providing access to adolescent drug treatment services.

Purpose: To examine the role of public health agencies (PHAs) in providing access to drug treatment services for adolescents by describing the proportion of youth who obtain access to these services through PHA involvement in school health clinics, juvenile drug courts, and other community agencies.

Methods: Analysis of cross-sectional telephone interview data collected from 1999-2003 from a national sample of 1793 PHA key informants from communities surrounding schools in the nationally representative Monitoring the Future (MTF) study of 8th, 10th and 12th grade students.

Results: Fifty-eight percent of youth in the MTF sample were served by PHAs that participated in some way in school health clinics, with 30% served by PHAs that provided resources for drug treatment in schools.

Community and school drug prevention strategy prevalence: differential effects by setting and substance.

This study used key informant interviews and student survey data in 508 U.S. communities to examine relationships between the prevalence of community and non-classroom-based school substance prevention strategies and teen substance use rates.