Town Hall Meetings on Underage Drinking

One in five eighth graders is a current drinker. Over half of Wisconsin high school students have tried alcohol before the age of 14. Town Hall Meetings to raise awareness about underage drinking issues will take place all over the country during the week of March 31-April 4, 2008. Over 1600 communities are planning to participate. In my state of Wisconsin almost 50 meetings have been organized. This nationwide effort is supported by the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD).

The Town Hall Meetings will give local communities the opportunity to learn more about new research on underage drinking and its impact on both individuals and the community, and to discuss how their community can implement the recommendations in The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to prevent underage alcohol use.

Who should come to a Town Meeting? Anyone who has children, grandchildren, or lives near a university campus, a middle school or high school, or in a neighborhood where families reside. In other words, everyone should come because almost all of us are impacted by underage drinking.

Go to the stopalcoholabuse.gov link in the resource list to access lots of information for conducting community meetings at any time, not just the coming week. In Madison, Wisconsin, the Town Hall Meeting is Thursday, April 3, 6:45-8:30 pm at American Family Insurance Education and Training Center, 6000 American Parkway, Building A, hosted by Frederica Freyberg, a TV news anchor.

See you there, MotherWarrior