SAN LUIS VALLEY — The Prevention Coalitions of the six counties of the San Luis Valley are conducting the “Parents Who Host Lose the Most: Don’t be a Party to Teenage Drinking” public awareness campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to educate parents about the health and safety risks of serving alcohol at teen parties and to increase awareness of and compliance with the Underage Drinking Laws of the state of Colorado.

Parents often provide teens with alcohol,based on the false belief that drinking alcohol is a rite of passage, especially at prom and graduation parties. Other parents think that it is easier to provide teens with alcohol and take away their keys to keep kids from drinking and driving. These beliefs and practices can have severe consequences for both the parents and the teens.

In the state of Colorado, parents or adults who provide alcohol to underage youth face legal consequences in the form of a felony conviction with up to $1,000 fine, a possible 12 months in jail, loss of the driver’s license and a potential law suit if an intoxicated youth, who was furnished alcohol by the parent/adult, is arrested by the police, hurts someone, hurts him/herself or damages property.

Teens who are found to be in possession of alcohol or who have consumed alcohol face a misdemeanor charge. In the state of Colorado, the possible penalties include a maximum $1,000 fine, 24 hours of community service, loss of the driver’s license and court costs. If a youth is under 16 years of age and found guilty of possessing and/or consuming alcohol, the youth could be prevented from getting a driver’s license and may be assigned to do community service or conduct a project assigned by the magistrate. But, the most catastrophic consequence could be a lifelong addiction to alcohol.

In 2007 the U.S. Surgeon General in his “Call To Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking” said that Underage Drinking can affect anyone, including the teen who doesn’t drink. He also went on to say that “It’s time to stop accepting teen drinking as a rite of passage and to understand the threat it poses to healthy development. It’s time to replace an environment that all too often enables underage alcohol use with an environment that discourages it.”

A study conducted in 2007 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that parents, guardians or other adult family members provided the alcohol to underage drinkers 19.5 percent of the time. Other sources of alcohol for underage drinkers included (a) took the alcohol from home (5.5 percent), (b) took it from someone else’s home (3.4 percent), and (c) got it some other way (8.5 percent). This shocking statistic shows that parents and family members are the ones who most often promote underage drinking.

Research conducted in 2004 by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism concluded that young people “who began drinking before the age of 15, are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who wait until the age of 21.” “If drinking is delayed until age 21, a child’s risk of serious alcohol problems is decreased by 70 percent”.

The four local prevention coalitions working on preventing under age substance use are: Costilla County Prevention Partners, Rio Grande County Prevention Partners, Saguache County Prevention Partners and the SLV Prevention Coalition-Alamosa.

In an effort to spread the message widely and effectively, the four coalitions are using “Parents Who Host Lose The Most: Don’t be a Party to Teenage Drinking” as a Valley-wide effort to reduce the underage consumption of alcohol. The effort will have the campaign’s logo on banners, posters, brochures, radio and TV ads, stickers on liquor store bags, window clings on liquor outlet cooler doors, table tents in restaurants and liquor outlets, newspaper ads, public service announcements, and newspaper articles. These materials will be seen throughout the San Luis Valley during the months of April and May.

The San Luis Valley Prevention Coalitions encourages all adults to become aware of the laws and consequences and discourage one another from providing alcohol to our underage youth. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to provide youth with healthy, safe and substance-free activities that will make their lives more productive.

Remember, the life you save may be your own child’s life.

For further information please contact the Colorado Prevention Partnership Prevention Specialist in your county. In Saguache County contact Ileen Rivale at 655-2533 ex. 16 or Yoana Palacios at 754-2773, in Rio Grande County and Mineral County contact Joyce Housden at 657-0222, in Costilla County contact Honey Quintana at 672-9259, in Alamosa County contact Adam Vasquez at 587-6991, Kari Harp at 587-5636, Susan Reynolds at 587-6945, Dennis Lopez at 587-6990 or Miguel Martinez at 587-7153, in Conejos County contact Kristina Daniel at 587-5622.





For the complete article see the 04-09-2009 issue.

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