National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Releases Web Resource for Middle School
Underage drinking is a significant public health problem in the United States. As part of its efforts to raise awareness of and combat underage drinking, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has launched NIAAA for Middle School. NIAAA for Middle School is an online resource that helps parents, caregivers, and teachers introduce and reinforce key messages about peer pressure and skills for resisting it, as well as about other important topics related to underage drinking.
“Early initiation of alcohol consumption increases the risk of a wide range of harmful consequences during adolescence and adulthood,” said NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D. “We created NIAAA for Middle School knowing that alcohol intervention efforts started at a young age can positively influence a young person’s path in life.”
NIAAA for Middle School contains sections focusing on the dangers of underage drinking, on peer pressure, and on skills for resisting peer pressure. These three sections begin with an overview providing background information and end with print-friendly handouts and interactive activities designed for kids ages 11 to 13. The handouts and activities can be used at home, in classrooms, or in after-school programs. An additional section includes important resources on treatment, support, and mental and physical health. These resources can help with school projects about alcohol.
NIAAA for Middle School replaces and continues the objectives of the long-standing and very popular Cool Spot website. Like the former Cool Spot, NIAAA for Middle School is grounded in the Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS) from the University of Michigan. One goal of AMPS was to give students a clearer picture about alcohol use among their peers because it is often less than they think. Other goals of AMPS were to help students learn skills to resist pressure to drink and to give them reasons not to drink.
You can find NIAAA for Middle School online now.
In this Issue
Combining Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment With Recovery Management in Primary Care Settings Improves Outcomes
Alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) can be an effective method for identifying persons either at risk for or with alcohol-related problems and for connecting them to treatment. Recent data suggest, however, that while screening for alcohol misuse is common in primary care and other health care settings, patients are less likely to be provided a brief intervention for problematic drinking and even more unlikely to be referred to or receive treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Semaglutide Shows Promise as a Potential Alcohol Use Disorder Medication
Intramural scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and collaborators from The Scripps Research Institute, found that semaglutide reduces alcohol consumption and binge-like drinking in a rodent model of alcohol misuse. Published in the June 2023 issue of the journal JCI Insight, the study adds to growing preclinical evidence that the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) system plays a role in alcohol and other substance use disorders, and that GLP-1 receptor agonists show potential for treating people with alcohol
Canadian Official Visits Clinical Center, Learns About Alcohol Research
The Honorable Ya’ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health for Canada (left), toured the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center on Nov. 13, 2023.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Signs Letter of Intent With French Science Agency
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with its French counterpart, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (National Institute of Health and Medical Research), also known as Inserm.