National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week 2018

January 22, 2018

National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW) links students with scientists and other experts to counteract the myths about drugs and alcohol that teens get from the internet, social media, TV, movies, music, or from friends. It was launched in 2010 by scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to stimulate educational events in communities so teens can learn what science has taught us about drug use and addiction. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism became a partner starting in 2016, and alcohol has been added as a topic area for the week. NIDA and NIAAA are part of the National Institutes of Health.

Resources from NIDA:

• Find a NDAFW event near you!
• Check out these videos by NIDA and HBO’s film on addiction, then have a conversation about what you saw
• Toolkits for hosting drug-specific events like alcohol, college-aged and young adults, opioids and other prescription drugs, teens in the juvenile justice system and tobacco among others
• View the Spanish-language National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week toolkit: El Instituto Nacional sobre El Abuso de Drogas ha creado una campaña a nivel nacional para romper los mitos que existen entre los jóvenes sobre las drogas y el alcohol
• Order or download free booklets and educational materials available in English and Spanish like Drugs: SHATTER THE MYTHS (pdf), Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (pdf), Family Checkup: Positive Parenting Prevents Drug Abuse (pdf), and more
• Learn more about NIDA’s National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week

More resources on drugs, alcohol, addiction, and recovery:

• Drug use prevention phone numbers and websites
• Johann Hari TED Talk: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong
• A “New Vista” for Treating Cocaine Addiction brief article from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Alcohol and the Female Brain video presented by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism director Dr. George F. Koob
• What is a Good Addiction Treatment Program? article from Dr. John F. Kelly Ph.D. on PsychologyToday.com