Calvert County citizens are about apply the team approach to curbing a long-time problem—underage drinking. On Wednesday, March 28, a small group of citizens attended the initial meeting of the Underage Alcohol Abuse Reduction Team (UAART).
The coalition is being formed with the help of state grant money. The program monitor, Anna Black, explained that Maryland officials are allocating federal funds to Maryland counties in order for the involved citizens to focus on reducing the numbers of underage alcohol users and binge drinkers, and reduce the number of alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents involving youth ages 16-to-25. The grant is distributed to the jurisdictions under the Maryland Strategic Prevention Framework (MSPF).
Kendall Sorenson-Clark, the local MSPF evaluator, said the University of Maryland Baltimore County will evaluate the grant, the Calvert County Health Department will monitor it and the Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse (CAASA) is implementing the grant.
“We are tailoring this to our community,” said Sorenson-Clark. “This is an ongoing process.”
Among the concerns expressed at the March 28 meeting were the reports of underage drinking parties being held with parents’ knowledge in Calvert County and the lack of punitive measures implemented by the court system for youths who abused alcohol.
According to UAART literature distributed at the meeting, local research shows that “high school students in Calvert are drinking alcohol, engaging in binge drinking, and drinking and driving, as well as knowingly riding as passengers with drivers under the influence. In addition, numerous minors are given citations for underage drinking, as well as adults for supplying alcohol to minors.”
“We are doing specific things to try to educate,” said Black of UAART’s strategy. “We’re doing the education, prevention, the intervention.”
Black it is almost impossible to target a prototype youth, since the ills of underage drinking impacts young people from all social classes, academic statures and extracurricular organizations. “Nobody’s not drinking,” said Black.
Sorenson-Clark explained the idea will be to use the grant money—approximately $66,000—to grow the organization over the five-year period so that it doesn’t disappear when the grant funding goes away.
