April is Alcohol Awareness Month

    PRESQUE ISLE – In a ceremony held in the Hall of Flags in Augusta on April 6, Governor John Baldacci proclaimed April as Alcohol Awareness Month in Maine. This is an opportunity to assess the impact of alcohol on our state.
    Healthy Aroostook, a program of Aroostook County Action Program serving central and southern Aroostook, has joined the statewide effort to raise awareness on the issues of underage and high-risk drinking by providing information and tips to parents (go to www.MaineParents.net), and by working with local law enforcement agencies to raise awareness of the issues and the consequences of underage drinking.
    The Governor stated that “Underage and high-risk drinking are community problems and require a community response.”
    He called upon citizens across the state to recognize, encourage and support the benefits of preventing alcohol and drug abuse.
    Alcohol Awareness Month was first proclaimed nationally in 1987 in an effort to inform the American public about the treatable and preventable disease of alcoholism.
    During this year’s Alcohol Awareness campaign, the important issues of preventing underage and high-risk drinking, parent modeling, responsible retailing and workplace prevention will be highlighted in activities across Maine.
    It is clear that alcohol abuse is a law enforcement problem, a social issue and a public health issue.
    The Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse (MAPSA) called on the Governor to make this proclamation to draw attention to the fact that even though we have seen a decline in alcohol use among Maine’s 6th- to 12th-graders in recent years due to prevention efforts, alcohol continues to be the leading drug of choice in Maine among both young and old alike.
    Alcohol abuse costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year and is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, alcohol poisoning, unsafe sex, suicide, unintentional injuries, educational failure and other behavioral problems.
    Studies show that underage alcohol consumption has the potential to trigger long-term biological changes that may have detrimental effects on the developing adolescent brain.