Agenda and Minutes Members Resources and Links
Missoula Underage Substance Abuse Prevention team (MUSAP)
MUSAP is a Forum coalition of professionals, volunteers, community leaders, and agencies collaborating to improve community strategies to reduce underage substance use in Missoula County.
The Solution Show love. Stay involved. Communicate. Establish clear expectations and consequences. Provide opportunities for growth and involvement. The answers are obvious, but it takes a lot for a community to incorporate them in all families, schools, and other environments. In Missoula County, MUSAP provides a infrastructure for looking at ways to build these protective factors throughout the community in ways that prevent youth substance use. Because alcohol is the most commonly used drug in Missoula County, a strong predictor of other drug use, and so readily available, many of MUSAP's strategies focus on preventing underage drinking and binge drinking. However, MUSAP and MUSAP members' strategies also address the prevention of tobacco, marijuana, methamphetamine, inhalant, and other drug use. Most prevention strategies help prevent all types of substance use, because the same risk factors and protective factors are at work. MUSAP’s Key Strategies I.   Information Dissemination:  Increase youth and adult access to clear, appropriate, and accurate information about ATODs and ATOD use in multiple settings. II.  Education:  In multiple settings, increase knowledge and dialogue about ATOD use and safe and healthy choices and behaviors.  The intent of education is to increase dialogue about these issues and the ability of Missoula community members to make healthy decisions. III.  Media Messages:  Increase media literacy; decrease youth exposure to unhealthy media messages about ATOD use; increase youth exposure to healthy media messages. IV.  Positive Relationships:  Ensure that all children and youth in Missoula have safe, healthy, and positive relationships with caring adults and peers. V.   Alternative Activities:  Offer drug-free social, recreational, extracurricular, and volunteer options for young people and families. VI.  Policy and Enforcement:  Establish, evaluate, publicize, and consistently enforce ATOD policies in multiple sectors. VII. Access and Availability:  Limit youth access to and availability of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs through laws, policies, enforcement, and education. VIII. Intervention and Treatment:   Provide early intervention, counseling, and referrals to treatment programs as needed.  IX.  Capacity-Building:  Increase the capacity of the Missoula community to prevent youth substance use through prevention needs assessment and planning, coordination, and collaborative work; and increase the community-wide visibility of MUSAP.
Some of MUSAP's strategies have included:
collecting and disseminating local data about underage drinking and other drug use and risk and protective factors in Missoula County (see "Resources and Links" page);   conducting alcohol purchase surveys to increase support for compliance checks;   convening meetings of community sectors to identify prevention strategies each sector can employ to help prevent underage alcohol and other drug use;   advertising changes in MIP law and enforcement strategies;   providing counterpoint to local media pieces that glorify or condone underage substance use;   producing billboard and radio ads about preventing youth ATOD use;   conducting "Reach Out Now Teach-Ins" in local 5th grade classrooms;   developing and providing trainings and presentations for community members on ATOD use, prevention, and treatment;   providing semi-annual workshops for parents of 8th-12th grade students;   collaborating with media literacy and parent education providers to produce and distribute resources for parents and other adults, including "Confident and Connected: Parenting Through the High School Years" and Parent Tip Sheets; and   developing a community-wide youth substance use prevention strategy.
In order for prevention to work, multiple sectors of the community must simultaneously employ multiple, ongoing strategies in multiple settings. MUSAP helps this happen.  Bringing everyone to the table, MUSAP facilitates collaborative planning and work around the issues that affect youth substance use in Missoula County.
MUSAP helps link and publicize members' strategies, including:
Missoula County Public Schools: Project Success Plus chemical dependency counselors, in high schools All Stars, offered by the Flagship Program in area middle schools Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs Policy task force School Resource Officers in middle and high schools Alcohol, tobacco, and media literacy programs in 5th, 7th, and 9th grades by Tobacco-Free Missoula County and Community Care Enforcement: Missoula Police Department:  compliance checks, saturation patrols, and party patrols; School Resource Officers in middle and high schools Missoula County Sheriff's Department:  Party and kegger-response; coordination w/ Fish, Wildlife and Parks for enforcement of alcohol and other drug laws up Pattee Canyon and along the Blackfoot River corridor University of Montana Drug and Alcohol Advisory Committee Programs of Health Enhancement at Curry Health Center Programs of Self Over Substance (SOS) at the Curry Health Center Biennial Drug and Alcohol Review Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Policy	Family:  Parents' Survival Guide, published by the Health Promotion Department of the Missoula City-County Health Department and the Missoulian Parenting classes and counseling by Parenting Place and Families First Family Resource Centers, hosted by Family Basics of WORD Parent involvement required in alcohol education classes for youth under 18 years of age who receive an MIP citation Other: DUI prevention/intervention efforts of the Missoula County DUI Task Force and members Free Department of Revenue "Let's Control It!" responsible alcohol service trainings, offered by Safe Kids/Safe Communities Programs of Tobacco-Free Missoula County Missoula County MethWatch Missoula County Youth Court Media Literacy Community Action Team presentations and activities kits
Below are some of the billboards MUSAP produced has produced.