Nebraska's Call to Action to Prevent Underage Drinking

We're hoping you'll join in a statewide Call to Action to Prevent Underage Drinking

As you likely know, underage drinking is a serious issue in Nebraska The most recent Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey confirm that alcohol is the drug of choice of Nebraska students. In fact, by twelfth grade, 79% of students report having consumed alcohol at some point in their life, and more than 52% of all Nebraska high school students report using alcohol on a regular basis. A 2004 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found that the costs of underage drinking in Nebraska totaled $435 million in 2001 alone, and that underage drinkers consumed more than 25% of all alcohol sold in the state ($156 million in sales).

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has declared addiction to be a developmental disease of children and adolescents. This is because of the profound and permanent effects that alcohol and other drugs can produce on developing brains. Research has shown that any introduction of alcohol or other drugs during the critical period of brain development (which lasts until the early to mid-twenties) can actually "rewire" the brain and predispose the substance user for addiction. Not surprisingly, studies have documented that youth who begin using alcohol before the age of fifteen are four times as likely to develop alcohol dependency and addiction as an adult.

The good news is that alcohol abuse and dependency are entirely preventable. In particular, research shows that public policies designed to decrease access and availability of alcohol to youth, and positive adult role modeling and social norms, are some of the most effective ways to prevent underage drinking.

You have an important opportunity to lend your support to a statewide Call to Action to Prevent Underage Drinking in Nebraska , and we're asking for your partnership.

On May 12 , 2006 the Nebraska Board of Education adopted a resolution-CALL TO ACTION: PREVENTING UNDERAGE DRINKING--asking that "every reasonable effort" be made to ensure that all activities involving school age students state school or community sponsored-be held in facilities or areas where alcohol is neither sold nor consumed while the activities are occurring. The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) and Nebraska Partners in Prevention (NePiP), the Governor's state advisory for substance abuse prevention, have also adopted the resolution and are partnering with the Board of Education to promote the adoption of the resolution by other schools and communities throughout the State. The nonbinding resolution, while not banning alcohol sales or consumption at such events, says that every reasonable effort should be made to ensure that all activities involving school age children be held where alcohol is neither served or consumed.

The Nebraska Board of Education, NSAA and NePiP are promoting the adoption of the resolution by all schools and communities, and they hope that you, your school board and administrators, local elected officials, community organizations and members, parents and youth will all join them in this important effort. On August 2, the resolution will be formally presented at a statewide press conference in Kearney . School and community stakeholders are encouraged to print, sign and return the attached resolution by July 21st so that they can be recognized at the press conference as partners in the Nebraska Call to Action to Prevent Underage Drinking. The signed resolution should be mailed to: Call to Action to Prevent Underage Drinking, C/O Laurie Barger Sutter, PO Box 98925 , Lincoln NE 68509 -8925.

In addition to signing and returning the resolution as individuals and organizations, we hope that you will also help by circulating the resolution broadly within your communities among all stakeholders and decision makers. We hope to generate broad-based awareness of the issues associated with underage drinking, and a groundswell of support and participation for this important policy initiative.

If you have any questions about the resolution or Call to Action, please feel free to contact me at (402) 471-7733.

http://www.nebraskaprevention.gov

Laurie

Laurie Barger Sutter
Behavioral Health Prevention Manager
Division of Behavioral Health Services
Nebraska Health and Human Service System
P.O. Box 98925 301 Centennial Mall South
Lincoln , NE 68509
402.471.7733 phone
402.471.7859 FAX