Town meeting tackles problem of youth drinking
The STOP Underage Drinking in the Flathead Coalition will host its fifth annual meeting aimed at curbing underage drinking on Tuesday at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.
Events start at 6 p.m.
The program, launched in 2004, is part of a national campaign to increase awareness of underage drinking and its consequences and urges individuals, families and communities to address the problem.
“I’m hoping we will continue to alert parents to the dangers of underage drinking,” said Linda Ravicher, project director, who urged parents not to let their guard down and to continue to try to prevent children from obtaining alcohol.
“More young people use alcohol and suffer serious consequences than all other drugs combined,” she said. Potential consequences include criminal mischief, traffic accidents, sexual assault or risky sexual behavior and unintentional injuries as well as alcohol poisoning and other serious health impacts.
Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence and are 2 1/2 times more likely to become abusers of alcohol than those who begin drinking at age 21, according to the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiological Survey.
The keynote speaker Tuesday will be Barry Adkins, a father who lost his 18-year-old son to alcohol poisoning and now heads an alcohol prevention awareness campaign.
Other speakers include Kalispell Police officer Jason Parce, the school resource officer at Glacier High School, Montana Highway Patrol trooper Steve Lavin and members of the county alcohol enforcement team.
Along with other town hall meetings across the country, Kalispell’s meeting is just before alcohol awareness month in April. The timing also is appropriate for getting the message out before spring break, during prom season and before summer — all times when underage drinking increases, according to Ravicher.
“We need to remind parents we need to continue ... to protect our youth,” she said, which includes setting boundaries, implementing family rules, teaching youths the dangers of alcohol use and reminding parents to lock up alcohol in the home.
According to the Montana Prevention Needs Assessment, a statewide survey administered in schools, 30.5 percent of Flathead County 12th-graders reported binge drinking (having five or more in a row) in the two weeks preceding the survey, compared with 36.9 percent statewide.
The percentages of alcohol use by Flathead Valley 10th-graders in the previous 30 days (41.5 percent) is comparable to the state number (41.2 percent), but the number of eighth-graders who reported drinking alcohol in their lifetimes is lower in the Flathead Valley (45.7 percent) than statewide (48.9 percent).
Ravicher said the Flathead Valley has seen significant decreases when compared with past years.
The average percentage of Flathead Valley eighth- through 12th-graders who reported drinking more than just a few sips of alcohol has steadily decreased since 2004 (66.23 percent). In 2006, it was 65.53 percent, and by 2008 it was down to 62.13 percent.
“We’re making an impact and we need to keep it up,” Ravicher said.
The town hall meeting will give a message to parents about the dangers of alcohol and how it puts youths at risk, as well as provide tools to help parents, according to Ravicher. She said lots of information will be available in the form of handouts, booklets and information on resources available in the community.
Complimentary refreshments will be available from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Members of local law enforcement agencies will be available at that time to answer questions. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public.