Tempe officials on Tuesday night encouraged students and parents to communicate in order to prevent underage drinking.
The Tempe mayor and local alcohol prevention groups discussed underage drinking at Tempe City Hall in a talk directed at parents of middle school and high school-aged children.
The talk was presented by the Tempe Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking and Drug Use.
“We know that this is where underage drinking really begins,” said Bobbie Cassano, coalition coordinator.
The overall theme of the evening was an emphasis on communicating with children about drinking and its negative side effects, with many presenters stating that listening is the most important role a parent can take.
Presenters included prevention counselors, police personnel and those personally affected by alcohol and drug use. Topics ranged from how adolescents hide alcohol to the many ramifications that could result from a simple party.
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman opened the town hall by recounting his brother’s experience with pain killer addiction, which eventually led to an addiction to crystal methamphetamine.
“Perhaps the most important thing I can ask you to take from this exercise is that you recognize that it is everywhere,” Hallman said. “It is pernicious. It is corrosive.”
Results from a study conducted by the Draw Your Line campaign, which was created by the Arizona governor’s office and the Arizona Underage Drinking Prevention Committee, were presented by coalition member Celeste Plumlee.
“When someone begins regular alcohol use before age 15, there is a 40 percent chance of alcoholism,” she said.
Plumlee also presented incident statistics from the Tempe Police Department, which showed in 2009 there were 217 underage alcohol violations within the city of Tempe.
Alcohol is the No. 1 substance of choice in comparison to other drugs used by students, said presenter Joronda Montaño, director of prevention at Community Bridges, a nonprofit substance abuse treatment center in Mesa.
Montaño spoke to the ways alcohol is concealed in products like Alcopops, which are frozen popsicles with alcohol in them, and energy drinks with alcohol.
“You just have a wide-awake drunk, when you’re drinking one of these,” Montaño said.
The biggest emotional responses from the half-full city hall were elicited from two speakers with notMYkid, a nonprofit organization in Arizona whose members share personal stories about substance abuse.
Barry, a speaker from notMYkid, told the crowd a story about his son who died as a result of alcohol poisoning at the age of 18.
The notMYkid organization did not give out the last names of its speakers.
In addition to educating parents on how to best address the issue, a public policy subcommittee within the coalition is planning on expanding a current state statute defining liability for social hosts, which Cassano said “doesn’t have a lot of teeth.”
The committee is developing a social host city ordinance, which will hold adults more responsible if they provide alcohol to minors, Cassano said.
Cassano said the fact that Tempe is a college town is not the root of underage drinking problems.
“That certainly doesn’t help,” she said. “But I think what happens is sometimes we just assume that’s where the problems are.”
However, Cassano said it’s important for citizens to understand that this issue affects students of every ethnicity and socio-economic status in every high school in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at anatwood@asu.edu
