For 26 years, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has declared April as "Alcohol Awareness Month." Despite their diligent efforts to educate about the dangers of drinking, alcohol still remains the deadliest drug for America's youth.

A 16-year-old in this country is more likely to die from a drinking-related problem than any other cause, and alcohol consumption is associated with the leading causes of death among young people, including car crashes, unintentional injuries, murder, and suicide. Despite the legal drinking age of 21, almost 20 percent of all alcohol consumed in this country is consumed by underage drinkers, according to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. NCADD says kids drink to get drunk and that, contrary to the belief that young people drink just to be "sociable," many kids drink alone because they are depressed or bored. Eighty percent of high school seniors have used alcohol. Boys usually try alcohol for the first time at age 11, while the average age of a first drink is 13 for girls.

Even more alarming, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has scientific evidence that the earlier young people begin drinking the more likely they are to experience alcohol abuse problems. For instance, young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at age 21.

"Underage alcohol use has been linked to increased violence, unwanted sexual activity, date rape, increased depression, vandalism, teenage pregnancy, low academic performance, vehicular crashes, among other things," said Kay Provine, a prevention specialist and senior trainer for Project Northland at Hazelden in Center City, Minn. "Every day that our youth choose not to drink improves their chances of not developing alcohol use problems."

Provine fervently urges adults to stop procrastinating and say clearly to children: "I don't want you using, and if you use, there will be consequences." Parents need to say this early, firmly, and repeatedly. "Parents think their kids stop listening to them when they get into middle school and high school, but we've got good consistent research that parental involvement does make a difference," said Provine.

Provine also advises parents to enforce curfews. "My mama told me nothin' good happens after midnight," said Provine, with her pronounced Southern drawl. "Every teenager I know tells me the later the hour, the worse the trouble.

"Parents also need to absolutely lock up their alcohol and track it," said Provine. "Get right in your children's faces and say, 'Don't even think about it.' Young children get their first taste of alcohol in their own homes. We protect toddlers by placing dangerous things on high shelves out of their reach. We need to do the same thing with alcohol and young people."

Prevention programs such as Project Northland offer other effective ways to prevent underage alcohol use, because they are ongoing, consistent, and involve all aspects of a child's life: home, school and community. This curriculum, published by Hazelden for grades 6-8, uses comic book characters to help young people talk with their parents about alcohol, deal with peer pressures to use alcohol, and develop community-wide changes in alcohol- related programs and policies.

While Project Northland has proven extremely successful for younger children, Class Action, a newer prevention program developed by Project Northland's creators, is an effective prevention tool for high school students. Class Action is a role-play-based curriculum where students take the part of plaintiffs' attorneys in fictitious lawsuits that result from underage drinking. Through research, discussion, community interviews, and role-plays, students learn how their decision to drink can have dire consequences and legal ramifications for many others as well.

Prevention specialists who have implemented these programs are delighted with their reception and their effectiveness. The rate of increase in underage drinking is significantly less for students who went through all programs compared with those students who did not take part in Project Northland activities. Since its inception in 1990 in northern Minnesota, Project Northland has been used in schools throughout this country, Russia and Poland. The fact that our children continue to drink too much too soon suggests we need to make every month an "alcohol awareness" month. For more information on underage drinking and ways to prevent it, see http://www.ncadd.org/.

--Published April 21, 2003