Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention Project (ASAPP)

Georgia’s Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention Project uses the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) and a public health approach to tackle Georgia’s leading substances of abuse and misuse issues.  The ASAPP grew out of the Alcohol Prevention Project (APP) which began in 2011. The APP used the SPF process and evidence based prevention strategies to successfully decrease alcohol misuse and abuse in Georgia. The ASAPP funds 39 contracts across the 6 regions in the state.  It also allows the contracted communities to expand their efforts beyond alcohol prevention to address a second substance of abuse and misuse identified through local assessment data.

As funding allows, periodic statewide needs assessments are conducted to help identify and prioritize Georgia’s primary state goals.  Currently Georgia is addressing early onset of alcohol use and abuse and binge drinking as major public health issues. In addition to addressing the state identified alcohol goal, the ASAP Project allows communities that have local data showing a secondary high priority substance of abuse to address that need as well. The project requires all contracted providers to participate in a state level evaluation and conduct and share results of their own local community evaluations.

The following are the 2017 OBHP State Substance Abuse Prevention Primary goals:

1) Reduce the early onset of alcohol use among 9-20 year olds

2) Reduce access to alcohol and binge drinking among 9-20 year olds

3) Reduce binge drinking and heavy drinking among 18-25 year olds

Contracted Substance Abuse Prevention Providers are required to join with community coalitions and develop Community Prevention Alliance Workgroups (CPAW) to effectively implement the strategies and garner community buy-in for accomplishing the goals.

OBHP believes this approach will continue to result in and center on communities developing and implementing successful and sustainable outcome-based prevention strategies.

asapp.png