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Preventing substance abuse

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is determined to help people gain the understanding, skill, and confidence to resist drugs and alcohol abuse. As we develop our substance abuse strategy—expected in 2012—the Foundation has supported the following projects:

  • An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Betty Ford Center Children's Program, which recognizes alcoholism and addiction as family diseases and serves children age seven to 12 from families hurt by addiction.
  • A study of substance use and dependence in America's high schools by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, which concluded that adolescence is the critical period for preventing the initiation of substance use and its devastating and costly health and social consequences.
  • Focused on middle school students, a group vulnerable to social pressures but not typically heavy users of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, Project ALERT uses a research-based curriculum to encourage non-users to avoid experimentation and to keep experimenters from becoming regular users.

Resources

Project ALERT provides materials such as teaching tools and videos.

Adolescent Substance Use: America's #1 Public Health Problem, (web) The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)