NIPC INHALANT PREVENTION UPDATE: ALERT
March 8, 2010
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NIPC Inhalant Prevention UPDATEs and ALERTs are the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition’s (NIPC)
electronic newsletters. They are designed to provide current information, data, research, call to action alerts,
advocacy and resources to our Partners throughout the world. Please forward to colleagues and post, with
attribution, on listservs. If new readers wish to get on this list, contact us. If you have local data and stories or
other items to contribute and/or comments and suggestions, please forward.
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Chattanooga, TN:
Greetings:
This issue of the NIPC UPDATE ALERT will focus on:
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The NIPAW Kickoff Press Conference at the National Press Club;
A Recent Compilation of State Inhalant Statutes; and
A Writer Pitching a Nitrous Story.
Sunday begins the 18th Annual NATIONAL INHALANTS & POISONS
AWARENESS WEEK (NIPAW) public health campaign. This annual
community involvement education and awareness campaign is designed to
alert families in communities throughout the Nation and abroad about
inhalant dangers.
NIPAW KICKOFF PRESS CONFERENCE:
Thursday, March 11th marks the kickoff of the 2010 NIPAW campaign.
The NIPC will lead a press conference at the National Press Club in
Washington, DC (details attached). This year we are honored to have an
outstanding lineup of speakers:
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Gil Kerlikowske, Director, White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy;
Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Administration, HHS;
Timothy P. Condon, Ph.D., Deputy Director, National Institute on
Drug Abuse, NIH;
Harvey Weiss, Executive Director, National Inhalant Prevention
Coalition;
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Jennifer N. Caudle, D.O., Director, Family Medicine, General
Internal Medicine, Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, representing the
American Osteopathic Association;
Kevin Talley, the NC father of a 17 year-old, JROTC high school
student who died using inhalants on February 6, 2009; and
Ashley Upchurch, who was treated for inhalant addiction at the
Fairbanks Treatment Center in Indianapolis and graduate of the
center’s Hope Academy.
There will also be the release of new SAMHSA findings based on the
annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
For those of you in the Washington, DC area, please join us. If you have
media contacts, ask them to cover the press conference. For those beyond
DC, contact your local media, ask them contact their DC bureaus and tiein for your own media event.
DIGEST OF STATE INHALANT STATUTES:
Last June the NIPC was asked by the Connecticut Office of Legislative
Research (OLR) to assist them by providing information about state
inhalant laws. The result is a very useful comparison of CT’s laws with
those in other states. This digest of state inhalant laws can be found at
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/rpt/2009-R-0251.htm. Note how your state’s
laws stack up with other states. Is there need for updating, expanding,
revising ? In Tennessee new legislation was proposed several years back,
though not enacted. I believe the proposed TN legislation is worth taking a
look at (it is attached). When it was first proposed, several states
considered incorporating portions in their legislation.
NITROUS OXIDE ARTICLE:
A writer developing an inhalant article for a major publication contacted
the NIPC. The focus of the story will be the experimentation, misuse and
abuse of nitrous oxide. If anyone would like to contribute with specific
experiences, please let me know.
NOW IS THE TIME!
As the years have gone by the NIPC has endured significant funding
reductions while project expenses and requests for services and resources
have increased exponentially. All of our resources are provided at no cost
and direct income does not cover many expenses.
To NIPC Friends & Partners, especially those who have received and
benefited from our free resources, workshops and/or presentations, help us
by opening your hearts and wallets to support our continuing efforts. The
NIPC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and contributions are deductible
as allowed by law.
We would like to express our heartfelt and continuing appreciation to our
Government supporters, U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)
and NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and our corporate
supporters, Falcon Safety Products and Unilever United States Foundation,
for their ongoing support and faith in us.
Please let us know about your NIPAW activities. Good luck with your
campaigns
Wishing you well and thanking you for your continuing support.
Harvey
Harvey Weiss, Director
National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC)
318 Lindsay Street
Chattanooga, TN 37403
800/269 - 4237 and 423/265 - 4662
nipc@io.com http://www.inhalants.org