The University of Alaska Southeast is one of hundreds of communities nationwide that will hold a Town Hall Meeting for the Prevention of Underage Drinking on Thursday, March 27th to discuss and raise awareness about the issue of underage drinking. Particular attention will be given to substance use by college students and young adults ages 18-20. UAS, in collaboration with the Federal Government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) is sponsoring the event.

Alcohol use among adolescents starts early and increases rapidly with age. A higher percentage of youth aged 12 to 20 use alcohol (29%) than use tobacco (24%) or illicit drugs (14%), making underage drinking a leading public health problem in the United States. Approximately 80% of young adults age 18-20 have consumed alcohol, and more than 40% of this age group engage regularly in binge drinking. An alarming 12% of 18-20 year-olds meet the DSM-IV definition of alcohol dependence. Additionally, young adults enrolled full-time in college are more likely than their peers not enrolled full-time to use alcohol regularly, binge drink, or drink heavily.

Please attend our Town Hall Meeting to help increase community-wide awareness of the dangers of alcohol use by our young underage adults and to discuss strategies to address this problem. Specialists in treatment, preventative education, law enforcement, college student affairs administration, and students are invited to attend. Together, we will examine current statistics and trends in alcohol use and prevalence of alcohol-related problems in college-aged adults. Examples of successful community coalitions, campus groups, and action plans will also be shared so that we might explore ways to approach the problem of underage drinking in 18-20 year olds within the Juneau community.

• What: Town Hall Meeting for the Prevention of Underage Drinking
• When: Thursday, March 27th, at 2:00pm
• Where: University of Alaska Southeast Auke Bay Campus, Lake Room, Mourant Building

For more information, contact me at 796-6389 or send email to chris.washko@uas.alaska.edu. We look forward to meeting you and hope you and any interested colleagues can attend.

Sincerely,

Christopher Washko
Manager of Residence Life, Student Wellness, and Peer Education