VCU Recognized for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Efforts

By Tom Gresham

Virginia Commonwealth University has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Education for its campus alcohol and drug abuse prevention program.

VCU was one of five colleges and universities nationwide to be selected under the Models of Exemplary, Effective and Promising Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention Programs on College Campuses Grant Competition. The program provides funds to college and university prevention programs. VCU will receive $129,705 over a 12-month period.

Other schools to receive grants through the program were the University of Houston, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wyoming.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for our innovative work," said Linda Hancock, director of the VCU Wellness Resource Center. "This award money will enable us to expand our current prevention campaign, which addresses misperceptions about alcohol use at college. The truth is most students are healthier than you think. They don't use alcohol in harmful ways and they don't use drugs. We simultaneously work to reach the minority of students who are at high risk for alcohol problems."

See http://www.yourstrategy.org for more information about VCU's work and research.

In awarding the grant to VCU, the Department of Education noted that between 2002 and 2007 the university's prevention program reduced misperceptions among students about drug and alcohol use, increased the use of protective behaviors and decreased drinking as measured by estimated blood alcohol content.

The funding provided by the grant will enable VCU to initiate new alcohol and other drug abuse prevention efforts with technology-based enhancements and to evaluate and disseminate those programs.