SPR Community - Newsletter of the Society for Prevention Research

National Preventionist Network
By Craig L PoVey

The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, Inc. (NASADAD) is a private, not-for-profit educational, scientific, and informational organization. The system that NASADAD represents is primarily funded by the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant.

NASADAD’s basic purpose is to foster and support the development of effective alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and treatment programs throughout every State. NASADAD serves as a focal point for the examination of alcohol and other drug related issues of common interest to both other national organizations and federal agencies.

The National Prevention Network (NPN), is a component of NASADAD. State prevention representatives work to ensure the provision of high quality and effective alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse prevention services in each State. Research and evaluation efforts are critical to fulfilling this mission and the NPN is eager to form stronger relationships with the research community. The NPN recently celebrated its 25th annual NPN Research Conference where several SPR members attended and delivered high quality researched based breakouts and keynote presentations. One such presentation was a plenary session panel moderated by Craig PoVey and made up by David Hawkins, Zili Sloboda and Ralph Hingson. The focus was on research advancements in the past 25 years.

The NPN uses its leadership role to promote high-quality prevention services through:

Communication among States to increase awareness and availability of effective and innovative prevention strategies;
Advocacy at National, State, and regional levels for prevention services;
Development of recommendations and policy guidelines to guide and enhance State use of prevention resource;
Involvement of prevention professionals nationwide as associate members;
Leadership of national campaigns to mobilize cooperation around national efforts.

The current NPN liaison to SPR is Craig PoVey from Utah. Craig is the immediate Past President of the NPN and sits on the NPN Executive Committee. As liaison, he attends the SPR Board Retreat and shares the NPN research agenda. An overall goal is for the NPN liaison is to develop relationships with the research community and find ways to partner with researchers.

NASADAD is headquartered at 1025 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 605, Washington, DC 20036; telephone (202) 293-0090, http://nasadad.org/.

Craig can be reached at CLPoVey@Utah.gov or (801) 538-4354