Funding to help raise awareness about underage drinking and opioid and marijuana use among youth population

Rockaway, N.J. (October 10, 2019)—Morris County Prevention Is Key (MCPIK), a north Jersey-based non-profit substance abuse prevention agency, has just announced that it has secured a $1.5M grant from the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) to support the Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership for Success project. The five-year initiative will encompass all of Morris County, with a focus on youth ages 9 through 20, addressing underage drinking, opioid use and marijuana use among this population. 

The project will include educational trainings for youth and their families, as well as a series of media awareness campaigns that will expose the nearly 500,000 Morris County residents to an ongoing message of prevention and the consequences of youth substance use. Additionally, the project will enable MCPIK to improve substance use prevention services in Morris County by training designated school representatives in the skills and implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), in order to identify possible substance use among the student population, perform brief intervention using motivational interviewing and refer them to treatment should a problem exist.

“Our goal is two-fold: to prevent or at least delay the use of alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs/opioids among children and young adults, ages nine to 20, and to strengthen the prevention capacity and infrastructure at the community level,” said Christopher Goeke, Executive Director, Morris County Prevention Is Key. “By the end of year one, we expect to have 400 students participating in the SBIRT program, with many as 2,000 by the end of the five years.”

New Jersey requires schools to provide staff training to establish a prevention, intervention and referral program for student substance abuse and suicide prevention. This program will help Morris County schools meet the state mandate.