April is National Alcohol Awareness Month

Each April since 1987, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) sponsors Alcohol Awareness Month to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce stigma and encourage local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues.

This April, NCADD highlights the important public health issue of underage drinking, a problem with devastating individual, family and community consequences. With this year’s theme, “Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow,”

NCADD and Phillips County Coalition for Healthy Choices ask parents and other adults to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages for a 72-hour period to demonstrate that alcohol isn’t necessary to have a good time. This open invitation is extended to all Americans, young and old, to participate in three alcohol-free days and to use this time to contact local NCADD Affiliates and other alcoholism agencies to learn more about alcoholism and its early symptoms.

According to Carol Smith, Project Director of the Phillips County Coalition for Healthy Choices, “The use of alcohol by young people is not only extremely dangerous, both to themselves and society, but it is also directly associated with traffic fatalities, violence, suicide, educational failure, alcohol overdose, unsafe sex and other problem behaviors. It is reported that annually, over 6,500 people under the age of 21 die from alcohol-related injuries and thousands more are injured.” 1

Additionally:

-- Alcohol is the number one drug of choice for America’s young people, and is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined.

-- Each day, 7,000 kids in the United States under the age of 16 take their first drink.

-- Those who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin at age 21.

-- More than 1,700 college students in the U.S. are killed each year—about 4.65 a day—as a result of alcohol-related injuries.

-- 25% of U.S. children are exposed to alcohol-use disorders in their family.

-- Underage alcohol use costs the nation an estimated $62 billion annually.

“To reduce underage drinking is critical in order to secure a healthy future for our youth,” said Smith, “To do this we need a cooperative effort from parents, schools, community organizations, business leaders, government agencies, the entertainment industry, alcohol manufacturers/retailers and also young people.”

National Alcohol Awareness Month offers community organizations concerned about individuals, families and children an opportunity to work together to not only raise awareness and understanding about the negative consequences of alcohol, but to highlight the need for local action and services focused on prevention, treatment and recovery.

Formed in 1999, the Phillips County Coalition for Healthy Choices is multi-professional group that works in concert with other existing social structures, agencies and institutions, to develop, implement, and support community based prevention programs, and has an active Youth Coalition promoting healthy lifestyles through alcohol, tobacco, prescription drug and other drug prevention activities.

For more information about NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month visit: http://www.ncadd.org.