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Town looks to bottle up underage drinking |
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
By JOSEPH FITZGERALD
NORTH SMITHFIELD - The town is stepping up its fight against underage drinking.
North Smithfield will be among hundreds of communities nationwide holding an underage drinking prevention Town Hall Meeting later this month.
As part of a national effort to help communities stop underage drinking, a series of Town Hall Meetings will take place across the country during the week of March 21. The meetings are spearheaded by a Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking, chaired by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in partnership with state and local agencies and organizations. Meetings are being held in all 50 states, four territories, and the District of Columbia.
The local North Smithfield event will be held on Monday, March 22 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the North Smithfield Middle School and will feature a panel of community leaders and prevention experts who will discuss the dangers of underage drinking.
The North Smithfield Prevention Task Force is sponsoring the event, which is open to parents, teachers, town officials, youth, and other community members who want to learn more about the impact that underage drinking has on the community and how they can help fight the problem.
The North Smithfield Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force is a town-based organization dedicated to promoting positive change to achieve healthy lifestyles. It is a coalition of members of the community who are concerned with the development, implantation and advocacy of effective programs as they pertain to the Rhode Island Substance Abuse Prevention Act.
According to North Smithfield Prevention Task Force Executive Director Kristen Boie, among eighth graders, about one in 20 (5.4 percent) reported being drunk at least once in the past month. Nearly one out of every seven 10th graders (14.4 percent) and about two out of every seven 12th graders (27.6 percent) reported being drunk at least once in the last month, she said.
Underage drinking also cost the citizens of Rhode Island $323 million in 2001. These costs include medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth. This translates to $3,039 per year for each youth in the state. Rhode Island ranks third highest among the 50 states for the cost per youth of underage drinking. Excluding pain and suffering from these costs, the direct costs of underage drinking incurred through medical care and loss of work cost Rhode Island $108 million each year.
"Alcohol abuse is a growing epidemic in our society and our young people are beginning to consume at a young age in record numbers," Boie says. "We are committed to reaching as many young people as we can to educate them about the dangers of alcohol abuse, the risks associated with starting while under the legal age and the how the addiction negatively impacts the lives of so many people in our society today.”
For its town hall meeting, the Task Force is bringing together key individuals from the community, substance abuse professionals and individuals affected by alcohol abuse to speak on the topic and provide insight. The task force will also be announcing the winners of their public service announcement contest, which is open to all North Smithfield residents ages 12-18.
The contest will award $100 to the student who produces the best 60-second audio commercial and $100 for the best 60-second video commercial on the dangers of underage drinking. Videos and audio commercials will be viewable on the task force’s facebook and YouTube accounts online and facebook users who become a fan of the task force will also be able to vote for their favorite videos.
“One of our goals is to promote the dangers of underage drinking to the youth in our community," Boie said. "We are reaching out to the students to produce a video or audio that we can upload to You Tube and Facebook and even air as a public service announcement on our local radio and TV stations. We know the kids are online constantly and we want to use those mediums to reach the kids and help promote a positive message.”
Said Boie: "Kids listen to their peers and they influence one another. Our hope is that this contest will inspire the kids to work together and say something unique that other kids will listen to.”
The task force is also reaching out to local TV and radio stations to promote the winning commercials.
“Most stations will air public service announcements and we’re hopeful that the stations in our area will air these commercials for us," she said. "It would be great for our community, and especially the kids, to see the winning commercials running on the local stations.”
For more information about Town Hall Meeting and the PSA contest including the rules and guidelines, visit the Task Force's Web site at www.northsmithfieldtaskforce.org.
Students can email their commercials to
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or drop them off at Boie’s office at 117 Eddie Dowling Highway, Suite LLB c/o MBA for a Day Consultants, North Smithfield, RI 02896.
For more information on the town hall meeting or any other Task Force program, call Boie at 877-509-7755 ext. 2.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 March 2010 )
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