The Community Action on Substance Abuse records consist of CASA organizational materials – meeting minutes, annual reports and more – publicity and prevention materials, program information, Ann Arbor-area and national substance abuse resources, conference materials, local drug use surveys, fundraising materials, VHS and cassette tapes, and photographs and other items from Ann Arbor's Drug Free Schools drug prevention art contests. The records have been arranged into thirteen series: CASA Organizational files, Publicity, Prevention Materials, CASA Programs -- Ann Arbor Schools, CASA Programs -- Ann Arbor Community, Area Treatment Resources, State and National Affiliations, Conferences, Drug Use Surveys, Fundraising, Sound Recordings, Visual Materials, and Ann Arbor Schools Drug Prevention Contest.
CASA formed in 1981 in response to the 1979 drug-related deaths of several Ann Arbor Huron High School students. Immediately after these events, a substance abuse study group formed at Huron High School and concerned Ann Arbor parents established CASA, originally a non-profit, anti-drug parents' group. CASA founders were Dr. Blackman, Warren Matthews and Bradley Spencer.
The first major CASA event was a Town Meeting in 1982 to address Ann Arbor's adolescent drug abuse problem. Six to eight hundred concerned Ann Arbor residents attended this meeting at Pioneer High School and helped to raise the community's and school officials' attention to the serious issue of drug, alcohol and tobacco use among Ann Arbor's adolescents. CASA held a second Town Meeting in 1983, a third in 1985 and a fourth in 1997.
Through the years, CASA focused on several specific issues: Ann Arbor's marijuana drug ordinance (pot law), the Hash Bash, Ann Arbor schools' reduction of anti-substance abuse programming and counselors and the City of Ann Arbor's reluctance to get involved with and/or fund programs to combat drug abuse in the community.
In addition to fighting against perceived apathy in the community, CASA also spearheaded many programs for both Ann Arbor's public school students and members of the Ann Arbor Community. Some programs include: annual Red Ribbon Prevention Campaigns (national program), Parenting Prevention, Youth to Youth, Keep Off the Grass (in response to the annual Hash Bash), Parental Agreement of Trust (PACT), an anti-substance abuse video lending library, facilitated support groups, a bi-monthly workshop, "Teens Using Drugs: How to Know and What to Do?," Teens Recognizing and Understanding Each Other (TRUE) and more.
CASA remained an all-volunteer, non-profit organization; grants and donations supported CASA's programming. A Governing Board made up of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary persisted throughout; membership numbers and involvement in programs fluctuated. The organization disbanded in 2003.
