Annually, over 6,500 people under the age of 21 die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking and thousands more are injured! Almost 2,400 youth under 21 die in drinking and driving crashes, almost 2,400 die in other accidents, falls, fires etc., 1,500 die in alcohol-related homicides, 300 due to suicide and others to alcohol overdose.

Each April since 1987, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) has sponsored NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce stigma and to encourage local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues. This April, NCADD is highlighting the important public health issue of underage drinking, a problem with devastating individual, family and community consequences. Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and to society, and it is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, alcohol overdose and other problem behaviors.

Some important basic Facts About Underage Drinking:

• Alcohol is the number one drug of choice for America’s young people, more than tobacco or illicit drugs;
• Those who begin drinking before age 15 are 4x more likely to develop alcoholism than those at age 21;
• Each day, 7,000 kids in the United States under the age of 16 take their first drink.
• Underage alcohol use costs the nation an estimated $62 billion annually

Reducing underage drinking is critical to securing a healthy future for America’s youth and requires a cooperative effort from parents, schools, community organizations, business leaders, government agencies, the entertainment industry, alcohol manufacturers/retailers and young people. This year’s theme for NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month is “HEALTHY CHOICES, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: PREVENT UNDERAGE DRINKING” and it highlights the need to work together to create comprehensive education, prevention, enforcement, intervention and treatment resources.

View our PowerPoint presented at the Underage Drinking Forum held at Tompkins Cortland Community College.