The Governor’s Office for Children, Youth & Families (GOCYF) provides resources, promotes citizen engage-ment and leads innovative projects to strengthen and empower families and communities. To achieve the Gover-nor’s vision for healthy communities, the office is organized into several ar-eas: Children, Community and Youth Development, Substance Abuse Policy and Women. GOCYF convenes numerous commis-sions, councils and task forces that ad-vise and monitor policy initiatives and grant programs. To achieve its goal of community participation and inclusive-ness, the commissions and councils are composed of diverse people represent-ing a variety of geographic areas, eth-nicities, interests, and professions. One such commission, the Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership (ASAP), serves as the single statewide council on substance abuse prevention, enforcement, treatment, and recovery efforts. It is ASAP’s mission to ensure community-driven, agency supported outcomes to prevent and reduce the negative effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs by building and sustaining partnerships between prevention, treat-ment, recovery, and enforcement pro-fessionals. ASAP is composed of rep-resentatives from State, Federal and community organizations as well as individuals in recovery.

The Substance Abuse Epidemiology Work Group (Epi Work Group) of ASAP is composed of a diverse team of statisticians, data analysts, academ-ics, holders of key datasets, and other stakeholders from various state and federal agencies, tribal entities, pri-vate and non-profit substance abuse-related organizations, and universities. The Epi Work Group’s mission is to provide communities, policymakers and local, state and tribal officials with data on the use of alcohol and illicit, over-the-counter, and prescrip-tion drugs to inform their substance abuse prevention and intervention strategies. This project is funded through a SAMHSA –sponsored State Epidemiological Out-comes Workgroup subcontract awarded to the Arizona Governor’s Office for Chil-dren, Youth, and Families.

W h o W e A r e

A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

I s s u e 1

D i d y o u k n o w …

I n 2 0 1 0 ,

O v e r 1 i n 5 A r i z o n a 8 t h , 1 0 t h , a n d 1 2 t h g r a d e r s r e p o r t e d m i s u s i n g p r e s c r i p t i o n d r u g s a t l e a s t o n c e i n t h e i r l i f e t i m e ( 2 1 . 5 % ) .

O v e r 1 i n 1 0 s u c h s t u d e n t s r e p o r t e d m i s u s i n g p r e s c r i p t i o n d r u g s i n t h e 3 0 d a y s p r i o r t o t h e s u r v e y ( 1 0 . 4 % ) .

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A p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 i n 1 0 s u r v e y e d a d u l t s r e p o r t e d m i s u s i n g p r e s c r i p t i o n d r u g s i n t h e i r l i f e t i m e , w i t h p r e s c r i p t i o n p a i n r e l i e v e r s b e i n g t h e m o s t f r e q u e n t l y a b u s e d .

S o u r c e : 2 0 1 0 A r i z o n a H e a l t h S u r v e y , h t t p : / / w w w . a r i z o n a h e a l t h s u r v e y . o r g / a d u l t- s u b s t a n c e - u s e - i n - 2 0 1 0 /

Primary Contact: Jeanne L. Blackburn, M.A., Program Administrator, GOCYF - jblackburn@az.gov - (602) 542-6004

E P I U P D A T E !

Friend us on Facebook: In the near future, you will be able to search for the Epi Work Group and find up-to-date information and links to all related data sources. This re-source will be continuously updated with new information on the resources below. Community Data Project: Find substance abuse data by visiting: www.bach-harrison.com/arizonadataproject/Indicators.aspx. Webinars: Starting in September 2011, four webinars will provide technical assistance on the use of data in grant applications; in evaluations and reporting; in applied pre-vention and intervention programming; and in decision-making for environmental change and needs assessments. Further details will be included in future editions of Epi Update and on the Epi Work Group’s Facebook page. Trainings: The Epi Work Group will collaborate with its partners to co-host several in-person trainings, which will provide the latest information and guidance on the data-driven decision-making process. Find Us Online: www.gocyf.az.gov/SAP/BRD_ASAP_SAEWG.asp.

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