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Story Archives: Underage drinking focus at 'town hall' meeting


Underage drinking focus at 'town hall' meeting
posted Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 @ 9:15 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
More students are drinking alcohol today, and they are doing it at younger ages.

Meanwhile, local officials say the issue must be addressed because it will only get worse.

That was at the heart of a message delivered at a town hall meeting at the Monroe Civic Center Friday to discuss the problem of underage drinking and its affects on teens and their families as well as the community.

Hundreds of people were in attendance.

The meeting was hosted by the Community Alcohol Reduction Effort (C.A.R.E) Coalition and featured discussions with several local officials and law enforcement agencies.

Denise Calhoun, chairwoman for the C.A.R.E. Coalition, displayed statistics that were compiled through recent studies and surveys by the Office of Addictive Disorders and Department of Education. The group surveyed sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th graders confidentially to gauge how prevalent underage drinking was in communities.

In Ouachita Parish, 42 percent of eighth graders say they have used alcohol and 10 percent of them admitted to binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks in a row) within two weeks of the survey; 66 percent of 10th graders reported they used alcohol and 24 percent admitted to binge drinking within two weeks of the survey; and 74 percent of high school seniors admitted to drinking alcohol, and 28 percent of them admitted to being binge drinkers.

The top three places where teens obtained alcohol were their home or a friend's home, convenience stores and at parties.

Calhoun says local groups have been meeting for the past two years to discuss underage drinking, but last week's meeting was the first time they had everyone who needs to be involved at the table.

"One of the resounding things that came out of this is that while all the groups have been working hard in their different areas, and no one was just sitting back and ignoring this issue, there's not enough collaboration between all the groups and a focused, concerted effort, and that's what's really come out of this meeting," Calhoun said. "It was more people coming to one table, and a commitment by them to continue coming together at these monthly C.A.R.E. Coalition meetings to really tackle this issue and figure out ways to move forward."

The next C.A.R.E. Coalition meeting will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. May 14 at the Children's Coalition office on Louisville Avenue.

The meetings are open to the public.

Calhoun says local groups do not know what it will take to deter drinking by young persons in the community.

"Education alone with kids is not working," Calhoun said. "We're not sure what it's going to take. We just know that it's got to take more than what's been going on."

Those involved in combating this problem have said that positive peer pressure works well to deter the activity, and Calhoun agrees that will be one way to address the issue.

"If it becomes something that's not socially accepted in our youth community, then we will see a lessening of it," she said.
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