The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 


Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821, scarr@unm.edu

March 17, 2006

UNM's COSAP Joins County Colleagues in Town Hall Meeting
A Town Hall Meeting…Your Voices, Our Youth: Underage Drinking in Bernalillo County

The University of New Mexico 's Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP), along with Bernalillo County prevention organizations, Educational Enterprises, Inc. and The Cornstalk Institute, will convene a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 28, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Loma Linda Community Center located at 1700 Yale, S.E.

The town hall is part of a comprehensive plan to reduce underage alcohol use and risky drinking by youths and young adults and is also part of a national effort to increase awareness of youthful drinking and its consequences, and to encourage individuals, families and communities to address the problem.

It will provide an opportunity for community members to learn more about the scope of the local problem, discuss effective strategies for reducing alcohol abuse, interact with and pose questions to a panel of prevention experts and identify how concerned individuals can become involved in the solution.

New Research

According to new research, more is known now than ever before about the risks associated with underage drinking. Alcohol use among children and adolescents starts early and increases rapidly with age. A higher percentage of youth aged 12 to 20 use alcohol (29 percent) than tobacco (24 percent) or illicit drugs (14 percent), making underage drinking a leading public health problem in the United States.

Research also indicates that the earlier young people initiate drinking, the more likely they are to develop alcohol abuse disorders as adults. In Bernalillo County alone, 33 percent of its youth take their first drink at age 12 or younger.

For more information on the town hall contact John Steiner at (505) 277-2795 or e-mail, jstein@unm.edu.

 


The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.

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