The Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition Praises Boston’s New Tobacco Policies
Community Supports Restrictions on Sales to Minors

New tobacco policies passed by the Boston Public Health Commission’s Board of Health on Thursday, December 1st take important steps to expand restrictions on minors accessing tobacco and nicotine delivery products. The Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition (CSAC), a member of the Boston Alliance for Community Health (BACH), played an active role in conveying community support. BACH collectively submitted over 400 signatures in support of these policy changes. 

CSAC, a program of the MGH Center for Community Health Improvement, is a community-based coalition of residents, businesses, organizations, professionals, and advocates who work together to reduce substance abuse in Charlestown. Through a unified, collaborative approach, the coalition utilizes existing community resources, organizes programs to identify needs, and harnesses the energy and commitment of all to provide a safe, healthy environment in Charlestown.

“The best way of reducing youth smoking is to have comprehensive tobacco control policies in place that apply to the whole population,” said CSAC Youth Prevention Director, Sarah Coughlin. “With our youth prevention efforts in Charlestown, we are working hard to build new and strengthen existing protective factors as well as reverse or reduce risk factors in our youth and these policy changes are completely inline with our efforts.”

Since 90% of adult smokers start using tobacco before their 18th birthday, policies that make it more difficult for youth to acquire tobacco and nicotine products are important. Existing regulations allow for youth of any age to purchase electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), which contain even more nicotine than a normal cigarette. The new Boston regulation will restrict the sale of electronic cigarettes to those 18 and over, and require a permit to sell the product. Additionally, Boston’s new tobacco control policies prohibit the sale of loose mini cigars or cigarillos, requiring them to be sold minimally in a package of five. Affordability plays a significant role in youth consumption of tobacco products. Prior to this regulation, mini cigars have been available in Boston for as little as $0.50 each, making them an inexpensive alternative to cigarettes. Additionally, the Board of Health approved a proposal to treat e-cigarettes like tobacco products, including requiring retail establishments to obtain a permit to sell them, prohibiting their use in the workplace, and restricting their sale to adults only. The e-cigarette restrictions will take effect immediately; the new cigar packaging regulation goes into effect in 60 days after the December 1st vote, on January 31, 2012.

Sarah Coughlin recently joined CSAC as Youth Prevention Director.

Coughlin is a licensed social worker and the former district based clinical social worker for Youth Connect in Charlestown. In her new position, Coughlin oversees all aspects of implementing the All Stars and LifeSkills Curricula in the Warren Prescott and the Clarence Edwards Schools in Charlestown. She also will help run all of CSAC’s Youth Prevention efforts and activities.

Currently, she is recruiting Charlestown parents and their youth to participate in a survey that will help to create an online resource for parents on how to communicate with your youth around challenging subjects such as substance abuse.

“CSAC is pleased to have someone of Sarah’s skills and background working with our youth in Charlestown,” said CSAC Director Beth Rosenshein. “Sarah knows the Charlestown community well and appreciates CSAC’s efforts to provide a safe and health environment for all of its residents.”

[Copy adapted from charlestown.patch.com]

CSAC is looking to fill the position of Youth Prevention Director.  The job description can be downloaded from here.

Saturday, April 30 from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Boston Police Department District A-1 Charlestown Station (20 Vine St., Hayes Square).  Please blacken out/remove any personal information on pill bottles (leave name of medication); if not in bottles, place in sealable plastic bags; put all sharps in containers or sturdy bottles.  This is totally anonymous - no questions asked, no names taken.  In partnership with CSAC, BPD, and the US Department of Justice DEA.  Look for the next Safe Disposal Day in June at the Charlestown Open Market during Charlestown Pride Week.

Connect2Prevent:  Join CSAC in promoting parent-adolescent communication about alcohol and other drugs

Believe it or not your opinion matters to your teenagers. According to the 2009 CSAC Charlestown Youth Health Survey, teens that reported that their parents would be disappointed if they used alcohol or other drugs were less likely to have used these substances. Letting your children know where you stand with regard to alcohol and drug use can help prevent their own use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Knowing how and what to communicate is key.

Since 2009, the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition (CSAC) has partnered with health professionals at National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI) on an important project to better understand and promote communication about alcohol and other drugs between Charlestown parents and their teens. The project, called Connect2Prevent, is supported with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The ultimate project goal is to develop an online resource for Charlestown parents to support effective communication with their teens.
   
The past year and a half has been busy for the Connect2Prevent project. In the Fall of 2009 the team hosted separate parent and teen focus groups in Charlestown to start a conversation about parent/teen communication. The focus groups were a huge success. Both parents and teens were highly engaged in the focus groups. Parents appreciated the opportunity to talk with each other about parenting, and teens appreciated the opportunity to talk openly about parents and teen issues. Both parents and teens asked for more such groups. 

We learned from the focus groups that that parents and teens are communicating about alcohol and drugs.  There were differences in parent and teen perspectives, however, in terms of how much communication is going on. Overall, while parents seemed to feel that they were communicating a “great deal” about alcohol and other drugs, teens felt that the extent of communication was somewhat less. The greatest difference came for communication about illicit use of prescription drugs. Most parents felt they had talked about the dangers “a great deal”, while a majority of teens indicated that such communication happened “not at all”. 

Safety emerged as a key issue for parents, including concerns of drug dealing in local parks, and the influence of other’s drug use. Many parents also expressed concerns about peer pressure and substance use, and were eager to talk with other parents about how to effectively monitor, discipline, and support autonomy for their developing teens in the face of the myriad of opportunities and influences during this time. Both parents and teens want the same thing with regard to communication; both want to be respected and heard. Teens reported that a communication approach that includes direct and clear communication about expectations, as well as relevant examples and stories, would be help them better hear the message and be open to communicating together.  Approaches such as accusations, scare tactics, or the instruction to “Just say No” without a clear explanation for why are less likely to reach youth. Parents wanted more information about the effects of alcohol and other drugs and ways to talk about alcohol and drugs to reach their young people.

RECRUITMENT IS STARTING for Phase 2 of the Connect2Prevent project! In this phase, parent/teen pairs from 150 households will be recruited to separately and privately complete online surveys that include questions about communication about alcohol and drug use. Information collected from the surveys will help Connect2Prevent develop programs and resources for Charlestown parents and youth. 

Keep your eyes open for your opportunity to participate in this exciting project.  In Janurary, a mailing will be sent out to Charlestown families that will include information about the project and how to get involved. Recruitment will start in January and continue into early 2011. 

If you would like to learn more about this project, contact Jennifer Kelly of CSAC at 617-726-0059 jkelly14@partners.org or Lucy Lorin of NDRI at lorin@ndri.org or 617-401-2284.

On November 18, 2010, the State Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission issued an emergency regulation banning sales of alcoholic beverages with caffeine on the grounds that such products represent an immediate public-health risk.  CSAC would like to recognize three local liquor stores (Bunker Hill Liquors, Charlestown Liquors, and McCarthy Bros. Liquors) for voluntarily agreeing to remove these dangerous and irresponsible products from their shelves and applaud the fact that they chose to do so even before this emergency ban was enacted!  CSAC appreciates their decision to be socially responsible and proactive in addressing the concerns of the Charlestown community and the Boston Police Department.

These dangerous drinks, which have been blamed for deaths and serious illness, contain 12 percent alcohol combined with high doses of caffeine and other ingredients commonly found in energy drinks. Various studies have shown that caffeinated alcohol drinks are particularly dangerous because caffeine, a stimulant, masks the intoxicating effects of alcohol, and may lead to increased risk-taking.  Research shows that teenagers and young adults are the primary consumers of energy drinks:  31 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 34 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds report regular consumption of energy drinks.  Combine that with the fact that these drinks look virtually indistinguishable from other non-alcoholic energy drinks and come in sugary sweet flavors, and it is hard to believe that they are not being targeted to underage drinkers.  In fact, anecdotal information from local youth workers confirms that many underage Charlestown youth report drinking Four Loko and other alcohol energy drinks regularly and in excess.