Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center

Challenge

Substance misuse remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States. In 2022, nearly 108,000 people died from drug-involved overdose. According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 48.7 million people aged 12 years and older had a substance use disorder in the past year, and nearly a quarter of people aged 12 years or older reported using illicit drugs.

EDC is helping to train the nation’s substance misuse prevention workforce through its leadership of the Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center (SPTAC). Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), SPTAC is providing customized, high-quality training and technical assistance to SAMHSA’s prevention grantees across the country, improving their workforce knowledge and skills to successfully implement SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework.

Key Activities

The SPTAC team is carrying out the following activities:

• Assessing the substance misuse prevention needs of populations, with a focus on underage alcohol and cannabis use and prescription drug misuse
• Preparing prevention systems to address the needs of people who lack access to effective substance misuse services
• Helping grantees develop strategic plans that link identified prevention risk and protective factors to clear and measurable outcomes
• Implementing effective programs, practices, and policies that produce sustainable change and improve the health of communities
• Evaluating the effectiveness of prevention efforts implemented

Our Impact

SPTAC works with more than 800 SAMHSA grantees across all 10 Health and Human Services regions.