Westbrook residents are invited to attend a public underage drinking summit on April 5 at 7 p.m. in the Westbrook High School auditorium. Westbrook’s underage drinking summit is part of a nationwide effort to increase understanding of underage drinking, and to encourage communities, including parents, young people, teachers, law enforcement and elected officials to come together to discuss the role they play in creating a solution to this problem.
Attorney General Steve Rowe will speak at the forum and will be participating in summits across Maine. His message will be that alcohol use by children has profound and devastating consequences. Heavy alcohol use negatively affects developing brains and leads to greatly increased chances of alcohol addiction. “We must come together as one community to change the social beliefs of young people in relation to drinking,” Rowe said. “These summits are the first step toward this change.”
Underage drinking is the number one drug problem in this state, contributing to teen depression, suicide, academic failure, and violence, including sexual assault and homicide. Underage drinking is also a serious problem in Westbrook. Over one third of Westbrook’s high school students reported using alcohol in the last 30 days, according to 2004 data from the Maine Youth Alcohol and Drug Use Survey.
And, alarmingly enough, approximately 15 percent of our junior high students report using alcohol in the last 30 days. Alcohol is the number one drug of use and abuse by our teens. It’s illegal, unhealthy, and it can lead to death.
Bring your ideas and suggestions on April 5. Let’s work together to make Westbrook safer and healthier for our young people.
For more information, contact: Sandy Hale, school health coordinator, 854-0810, ext. 561 or e-mail at hales@westbrookschools.org, or Capt. Tom Roth, Westbrook Police Department, 854-2531, ext. 406 or by e-mail at troth@westbrook.me.us.
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