UPDATE: Stop Urban Outfitters From Selling Products that Promote Prescription Drug Abuse

Photo Credit: Drugfree.org

Thanks to you, we are gaining momentum to put a stop to Urban Outfitters selling products made to look like prescription pill bottles!

U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers (KY) has sent a letter directly to Richard A. Hayne, CEO and Chairman of Urban Outfitters, encouraging him to “remove these items from the shelves immediately so as not to contribute to this epidemic” [of prescription drug abuse].

Along with Rogers, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who co-chairs the Substance Abuse Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General, has joined the effort.

In just the past few days, various media outlets have brought this to the public’s attention, including ABC News, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, News 4 WOAI (thanks to our alliance with The San Antonio Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse), UPI and more!

We’re not done, because we still haven’t received a response from Urban Outfitters.

Please take the time to tweet your plea. Here are some sample tweets:

Join me in stopping @UrbanOutfitters from selling products that promote teen Rx drug abuse. http://ow.ly/kQbJm #endmedicineabuse

Help stop @UrbanOutfitters from selling products that promote teen Rx abuse. http://ow.ly/kQbJm #endmedicineabuse

If you can’t tweet, we encourage you to invite your family, friends and colleagues to sign and share the Facebook Causes Petition today.
 

Article courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org 

Infographics & data visualization turn data into stories

Infographic: Social Brite

Article by Julia Reich

Most organizations have important data to present to their clients, members, boards of directors and other constituencies. Yet who has time to read or understand the reports, charts and diagrams created by your overworked staff?

Infographics are a communication trend that’s all about displaying data in an attractive, easily digestible format. With their unique combination of images and words, infographics are a powerful storytelling tool. It’s a way to take all that data you’ve collected about the great things your organization does and use it for social good purposes – to illustrate timelines, histories, relationships, the impact of a program and much more.

Removing a barrier to understanding

Ceci Dadisman, the director of marketing and public relations at Palm Beach Opera in West Palm Beach, Fla., used an infographic to promote her group’s 50th Anniversary Season. She says, “Opera, ballet and symphony are such complicated art forms. We are always trying to explain it simply in a nonthreatening way. Infographics  are a good way to explain what opera is with some facts anyone could understand.”

Article continues: Social Brite

Givers vs. Takers: The Surprising Truth about Who Gets Ahead

Photo Credit: Yoga For the New World

For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But today, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. It turns out that at work, most people operate as either takers, matchers, or givers. Whereas takers strive to get as much as possible from others and matchers aim to trade evenly, givers are the rare breed of people who contribute to others without expecting anything in return.

One of the great secrets of life is that those who win most are often those who give most. In this elegant and lucid book, filled with compelling evidence and evocative examples, Adam Grant shows us why and how this is so. 

Featured Article & Video: Daily Good

Study Finds College Women Bing Drink Alcohol More than Men

Photo Credit: Bliss Tree

College guys may outdrink women on any given night, but new research finds that the ladies are more likely than their male counterparts to exceed weekly alcohol limits.  

But while we know that drinking irresponsibly can wreak havoc on our livers, brains, skin, and waistlines, many of us aren't getting the message. According to new research, female college students tend to exceed the drinking guidelines created by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism more than men do.

Featured Article: Metro US - New York

Smoking Prevention in Schools Found to Be Effective Strategy

Photo Credit: blog.childtrends.org

Certain school-based programs that aim to keep kids from smoking cigarettes seem to work, according to a fresh look at some past research.

After examining over a hundred "gold standard" studies, researchers found that school-based programs that teach children life skills and self-esteem were linked to a significant reduction in the number who started using tobacco down the road.

 

READ FULL FEATURE: Science Daily
Research conducted by The Cochrane Library

 

Another Alcopop on the Rise...MoJo Water?

Photo Credit: Mojo Water

 

Next time you visit your local bodega and grab a bottle of water from the cooler, you’d better triple-check to make sure you don't accidentally get a fruity drink with 7% alcohol by volume. That's right, we're talking about a new alcopop product, designed to resemble the most popular of all beverages: water. After finding that markets for alcopops that look like sodas, juice pouches, and even popsicles were all spoken for, an alcohol producer stepped in to take it where no self-respecting company had dared to go.

Read more on what New Hampshire legislators are doing to put a stop to this dangerous phenomenon. Now, it’s our turn to do the same for the safety of our youth!

Full Article: SeaCoast Online

Help Us Stop Urban Outfitters from Selling Product Promoting RX Drugs Abuse

Photo Credit: Urban Outfitters

 

UrbanOutfitters can't stay out of trouble.

 

The latest controversy brewing in connection to the popular retailer is over "prescription"shot glasses and other medical-themed drinking paraphernalia. Urban Outfitters is currently peddling shot glasses, flasks and beer koozies designed to resemble prescription pill bottles, as well as "Syringe ShotShooters" (so you can squirt alcohol into your mouth instead of just drinking it).

 

Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the dangers associated with abusing medicine and put more teens at risk.

 

Ask Urban Outfitters to remove these products from their stores and website immediately. Feel free to use the information above to help make your point.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR Urban Outfitters:

Send an e-mail to:

Richard A. Hayne; CEO & Chairman
richard.hayne@urbanout.com

 

Write a letter:

Urban Outfitters, Inc.
5000 South Broad St
Philadelphia, PA 19112-1495

 

Sign this Facebook Causes petition:

http://www.causes.com/actions/1749784-stop-urban-outfitters-from-selling-products-that-promote-prescription-drug-abuse

 

When you take action, reply to this e-mail to let us know, share a comment on the blog post – and please forward this message to a friend or colleague.

 

annoucement courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org

 



Connecting People Workshop For East Harlem Service Providers

Connecting People: Training for East Harlem Service Providers

Learn about Benefits | Wellness | Resources

Tuesday May 14, 2013 

9:30 -11:30 AM (9 AM breakfast and networking) 

Silberman School of Social Work 2180 Third Avenue
(@119th Street), NYC 10035

Please join Silberman School to learn the ins and outs of using Benefits Plus and Health Information Tool for Empowerment (HITE) through interactive exercises using these two invaluable information and referral resources.

Click here to RSVP

This training is free but pre-registration is required by May 12th

Sponsored by the East Harlem Community Alliance and the Silberman School of Social Work

Healing and Renewal Feature: 11 Foods That Age You

Photo Credit Shine. Yahoo

 

Welcome back to our monthly Healing and Renewal feature. This article comes to us from Huffington Post. Check out the top 11 foods to avoid that could make you age. This viewpoint is, of course, based on over-consumption, but we want to share this information with you on which foods you should avoid and how it can affect your inner and outer beauty.

Click on view slides and see which foods increase your aging process.

 

Article courtesy of Huffington Post

 

A Message from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Logo: Tobacco Free Kids

You may have seen some intriguing headlines in the news recently: "NYC aims to ban cigarette sales under 21s," or "Hiding the Smokes." Here's what's really happening:

Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council have been hard at work proposing policies that will keep kids from smoking and help smokers quit. These new proposals would prohibit sale of tobacco products to anyone under 21, set minimum prices on products and prohibit the display of tobacco products in stores. 

Sensible Tobacco Enforcement Bill Increases penalties for retailers who evade tobacco taxes or sell tobacco without a license.    Prohibits retailers from redeeming coupons or honoring other price discounts for tobacco products.   Creates a minimum price for cigarettes and little cigars, which are virtually identical to cigarettes, at $10.50 per pack.   Requires that cheap cigars and cigarillos be sold in packages of at least 4, and little cigars be sold in packages of at least 20. Cigars that cost more than $3 each are exempt from the packaging rule.

Tobacco Product  Restriction Bill Prohibits the display of tobacco products to protect children from the marketing of cigarettes through their display at retail counters. Does not inhibit retailers ability to advertise and communicate tobacco product price and information to customers

We need to ensure that these measures are supported, so we need your help! Learn more about these initiatives and tell your friends to support them here. Stay tuned for some more calls to action from us-- the City Council will need to hear from you soon!

Medical marijuana more effective in pill form than smoking: study



Photo Credit: Dr Ottematic WordPress

A study released on Monday suggests that dronabinol, a pill form of medical marijuana may provide relief to patients suffering from pain.

 

The study compared dronabinol and smoked marijuana side-by-side in a trial that involved 30 volunteers submerging their hands in cold water, a procedure meant to replicate symptoms of pain. Interestingly, all 30 volunteers were selected based on a prior history of marijuana use.  However, dronabinol was found to provide longer-lasting pain relief.

 

Read more: New York Daily News

 

 

 

68 percent of teen alcohol-related deaths actually due to factors other than drunk driving, MADD reports

Photo Credit: Blog Itechtalk

When teens mix drinking and driving it can be disastrous, but new data shows that the majority of deaths from underage drinking were not due to traffic accidents, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving,

The organization found that 68 percent of the alcohol-related fatalities in young people were from homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning and other causes.

READ MORE ON FEATURE ARTICLE: Fox News Health