Monday, April 11, 2005

April Is Alcohol Awareness Month

By Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

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Prom is on the way in May and graduation will follow in June.

That means April is time to start talking about alcohol.

But at CLEAN Inc. in Winchester, Alcohol Awareness Month means more than one awareness campaign. For the group dedicated to keeping young people safe, healthy, and sober, it’s the right moment to remind families to talk about alcohol use and abuse all year long.

More than 78 percent of area children feel their parents disapprove of drinking, but few think their parents talk to them about alcohol use and abuse, said Frederick County Safe and Drug-Free Schools Coordinator Jane Ann Thompson.

People have a tendency to talk about alcohol awareness only around Christmas, New Year’s, and at Apple Blossom time in Winchester, or when an accident or incident brings the issue close to home, said CLEAN interim Executive Director Phoebe West.

But messages about the dangers of alcohol use must be hammered home all year, especially when favorable images about alcohol pervade music and other media, Thompson said.

Children who begin drinking at earlier ages run a greater risk of addiction, Thompson said.

Those who drink before the age of 21 also damage their still-developing brains, she said. Every night of drinking that leads to a hangover signals some brain damage.

Young people particularly run such a risk, since they aren’t social drinkers. Instead, they live out the “party ’til you puke syndrome,” Thompson said.

If they drink, they drink to get drunk — a pattern that raises the specter of alcohol poisoning, which can prove fatal, she said.

Scare tactics don’t work with teens, Thompson said, but open conversations and clear parental guidelines do.

Kids will push boundaries, but they won’t range too far if parents set clear rules, Thompson said.

Unfortunately, “lots of parents do not do that,” she said.

One in three people are directly affected by alcohol abuse, Thompson said.

Many of the children in her support group are the offspring of alcoholics. They’re at-risk, she said, but they’re also talking.

The March drunk driving arrest of Middletown Police Chief Roger Ashley prompted conversation and evoked sympathy among the children in her group, Thompson said.

The case sparked a discussion about the negative consequences of drinking, which can lead to making a host of bad decisions, Thompson said.

Also, the teens talked about how such an incident can make a person’s family feel, she said.

Conversations may also provide parents with some positive feedback, Thompson said.

While high school students will often say everyone they know drinks, only about 22 percent do so on a monthly basis, Thompson said.

In hopes of creating a new conversation between parents and children, CLEAN sends out a brochure every year to the parents of area high school juniors and seniors.

The piece, produced by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, explains how parents are responsible for the actions of any child under age 21 who drinks while under their supervision.

Messages need to be repeated year after year, Thompson said.

“Kids have such short time horizons,” she said. “They just think, ‘It can’t happen to me.’”

The theme for this year’s Alcohol Awareness Month is “We Can Stop Underage Drinking.”

— For more information about Alcohol Awareness Month, call CLEAN Inc. at 722-3589 or visit them online at www.cleaninc.org.