Local communities make efforts to halt underage drunk drivers

By Staff Writer

Underage drinking has many serious consequences such as drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, addiction and even death. In an effort to curtail this epidemic, a number of local communities are hosting meetings to discuss how to keep teens from drinking irresponsibly.

In San Juan County, New Mexico, more than 50 people, including teens and senior citizens, met at a public meeting to engage in a dialogue with community members, The Daily-Times reports. San Juan County Partnership - an initiative created in 1991 to reduce alcohol, tobacco and drug use throughout the area - hosted the meeting, "Reducing underage drinking: a collective responsibility," following a report of statistics on vehicle crashes for young people aged 15 to 24.

The meeting was the second this year to openly discuss the problem.

"Officials are seeing an upswing of all groups, but especially in the younger age group of drug impaired drivers," said state police Officer Micah Doering, who is one of 13 drug recognition experts in San Juan County, quoted by the news source.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, early drinkers and experimenters were more likely than non-drinkers to report academic problems, substance abuse and delinquent behavior in both middle school and high school.