The Issue of Alcohol Use by Children 9-15 Still Needs Your Help!
This website will help you connect to others in your state and unify your state efforts to make an even stronger voice. It will help you network and promote what’s happening in your area. Collectively, every state will build a national, unified force to comprehensively address the issue of children 9-15 drinking alcohol. Yes, The Leadership To Keep Children Alcohol Free Foundation with funding support from the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) is building a VIRTUAL national coalition focused on the issue of reducing and preventing underage drinking, with particular emphasis on children 9-15 years old. It begins with your joining your state’s group. Together we can make even more headway in the downward trend in children beginning to drink before age 13.
Data on the prevalence and long-lasting imact of underage drinking reflect a pervasive issue that culminates in immense social, financial, and human costs. Because its impact is broad and far-reaching, policymakers, public health officials, parents, and community members have responded. Some initiatives to address the issue in recent years have been:
- In 2006, the US Congress passed the Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act to help states and communities address this chronic problem.
- In 2007, The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking appealed to Americans to do more to stop current underage drinkers from using alcohol and to keep other adolescents from starting.
- In 2007-2008, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provided funding for communities to conduct Town Hall Meetings on underage drinking.
Alcohol use by 9- to 15-year-olds is an overlooked but very serious problem in the United States. In the 9-11 year old Despite its known health and economic consequences, underage drinking is generally viewed as a normal part of growing up. Unfortunately, the public is largely unaware both of the potentially harmful outcomes of early alcohol use and of the large numbers of underage drinkers, especially younger ones. The data on the onset of alcohol use at very young ages are compelling and demonstrate the need for a prevention campaign.