Substance abuse issues

By Clare Derosiers
    Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), a county-wide collaborative that works to prevent substance abuse, was recently awarded a five-year grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to implement substance abuse prevention strategies throughout  Aroostook County. As part of the prevention project, ASAP is initiating a weekly column in newspapers county-wide. The column will provide County residents with current information about:
• What individuals, families and communities can do to prevent substance abuse;
• Updates on current and upcoming substance abuse prevention activities throughout the county;
• Recent research about the harms associated with abusing specific substances;
• Current stories and statistics about the prevalence of substance abuse related harms; and
• Resources for further reading.
    If you or anyone you know would like to suggest additional topic areas for coverage in the column, have additional questions about ASAP, or would like to become an ASAP member, please contact our office at 521-2408.
    The column will debut in next week’s newspapers.
    Clare Desrosiers, MSW of Linneus is coordinator of the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Collaborative.