Townhall meeting on underage drinking set for March 18

The prevalence of underage drinking increases with age, making it more important than ever to begin teaching youth at an early age about the dangers of alcohol.

Underage drinking is a risk that attracts many developing adolescents and teens.When young people try alcohol, they often don’t realize the damaging effects drinking can have on their lives, families and their communities.

According to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 35.1 percent of 15-year-olds reported that they had at least one drink in their lives. About 8.7 million people ages 12 to 20 (22.7 percent of this age group) reported drinking alcohol in the past month (23 percent males and 22.5 percent females). The NSDUH also reported that 4,468 people under the age of 21 die each year from alcohol-related car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning and other injuries such as falls, burns and drowning.

In 2008 more than 190,000 people under age 21 visited an emergency room for alcohol-related injuries alone.

Project Success Life Skills Training Program, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Central Louisiana Human Services District will hold a town hall meeting on underage drinking on March 18 at 5:00 p.m. at the Nazarene Baptist Church Family Life Center, 2611 Overton Street, Alexandria, La. 71301.

The theme for the meeting is “Underage Drinking: No! We Are Too Smart for Alcohol.”

The purpose of the townhall meeting is to increase parents’ and communities’ awareness of at the effects of alcohol on the brain, heart, liver, pancreas and the immune system. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the audience to voice its concerns also about underage drinking in Rapides Parish and all surrounding towns and cities.

This article originally published in the February 29, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.