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AARON ONTIVEROS/Boomerang photographer Albany County Tobacco Prevention and the Coalition to Prevent Substance Abuse promote tobacco and alcohol awareness during the resource fair through Friday on the north campus of WyoTech. Students Chris Posfahala, left, and Blake Keller fill out a survey sheet while Brenda Cannon, program manager of Albany County Tobacco Prevention, looks on during the first day of the fair Wednesday afternoon.

Underage drinking

By Karla Pomeroy
Boomerang Staff Writer

For the first time in 21 years, the National Alcohol Awareness Month theme is focusing on underage drinking.

April is National Alcohol Awareness Month with the theme this year of “Keep Our Future Growing: End Underage Drinking.” Locally, the Coalition to Prevent Substance Abuse is partnering with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in observance of Alcohol Awareness Month.

Tracy Young of the Coalition to Prevent Substance Abuse (CoPSA) said that during this month of awareness, she wants to make Laramie aware of the problem of underage drinking and what the coalition can do and is doing to combat underage drinking. During the month, the coalition will be working at Laramie High School and Wyoming Technical Institute, Young said.

According to the 2006 Wyoming Prevention Needs Assessment, Laramie’s 10th-and 12th-graders are the highest in the state for lifetime use of alcohol and binge drinking.

“Underage drinking and binge drinking are very serious problems in our community,” Young said. “The personal tragedies, social consequences, economic cost and academic failures associated with underage drinking are unacceptably high.”

Young added, “It is our collective responsibility to reduce underage drinking and give our kids a bright future. We can do this by setting a good example for the kids in our community and taking a look at the role of alcohol in our community and at our community events. What are we teaching our kids about social situations?”

Activities

Activities for the month include:

n April 2: Vice Mayor Seth Carson signed a proclamation proclaiming April to be Alcohol Awareness Month.

n April 4-6: CoPSA and Albany County Tobacco Prevention will have a combined booth at the resource fair at WyoTech to inform students of the dangers of underage drinking and drinking and driving.

n April 9-11: The coalition will be talking to WyoTech students during Life Skills classes about alcohol issues.

n April 12: CoPSA will be at Spring Creek Elementary.

n April 18: The coalition will be at the University of Wyoming Student Union with information for students about binge drinking and drinking after driving.

n April 24: The Laramie Choice members of Laramie High School along with the student council and Peer Helpers will help educate their peers on the issue of underage drinking.

n April 25: Laramie Choice will have a membership drive to encourage their peers to pledge to be alcohol, tobacco and drug free.

n April 25: There will be a mock car crash at the high school. This is in anticipation of prom and helping students understand the dangers of driving after drinking, Young said.

The coalition

The Coalition to Prevent Substance Abuse (CoPSA) is a community coalition that is working to promote community-wide collaboration, Young said. She said the coalition began as Well Aware at Ivinson Memorial Hospital many years ago. When Well Aware dissolved, Albany County Resource Center, a community-wide alliance committed to improving the quality of life for all people living in Albany County, became the fiscal agent for CoPSA. The mission of CoPSA is to create a community that encourages children, adolescents and adults to make healthy choices by changing the social norms regarding substance abuse, she said.

The main strategy of CoPSA is environmental. Environmental strategies are based on the fact that people’s behavior, including their use of substances, is powerfully shaped by their environment, including the messages and images delivered by the mass media, the norms of their communities, other social groups, and the availability of substances. This is the primary strategy that CoPSA uses for its work in the community. Thus, effective prevention requires appropriately modifying the physical, legal, economic, and socio-cultural processes of the community at large that contribute to substance abuse and related problems, Young said.

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