Feb. 22, 2000

Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA ... [ANN]

Andrews University has received $978,000, the single largest research contract in the history of the university, to conduct state illicit drug research as part of ImpacTeen, a policy research partnership to reduce youth drug use.

“This research is a really exciting opportunity for Andrews University to influence illegal drug policies at the state and national level. It’s really an honor for us to be selected as part of such a significant national project,” said Curtis VanderWaal, Associate Professor of Social Work at Andrews University and the project director for the illicit drugs research team.

Established in November of 1997, ImpacTeen is building on existing state and community level information about youth alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use and abuse. ImpacTeen is supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the nation’s largest philanthropic organization devoted exclusively to health and healthcare, and administered by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Andrews University scholars and graduate students will spend the next three years working to determine what works and doesn’t work to reduce adolescent drug use and its consequences,” said Duane McBride, chair of the Behavioral Sciences Department at Andrews University and principal investigator for the project.

Data on trends, markets, policies, legislation, enforcement, treatment, educational programs, advertising, and other environmental factors will be collected from the 50 United States and a nationally representative sample of about 1,000 communities. The data will then be merged with nationally representative surveys of youth to evaluate the relative effectiveness of specific prevention programs and policies in reducing the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs by children between the ages of 12 and 18.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s behind the increases we’ve seen in youth substance use during most of the 1990s. Given that substance abuse starts early, if we can find ways to prevent kids from starting, we can have long lasting health and social benefits,” says Frank Chaloupka, ImpacTeen co-director.

ImpacTeen is part of an interdisciplinary partnership of nationally recognized substance abuse experts with specialties in such areas as economics, etiology, epidemiology, law, political science, public policy, psychology, social work, and sociology. Andrews University is one of five universities in the United States owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. [Myra Nicks/ANN Staff]

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