Underage Drinking
click the 21 to read more!
Contact Julie.zamora@madd.org if you have questions about any of our Youth Programs.
Underage drinking is a real problem in Minnesota communities. According to the 2004 Minnesota Student Survey, 63% of male high school seniors and % of female high school seniors reported drinking alcohol in the past 12 months.* Underage alcohol use can lead to multiple problems, including vehicle crashes, violence, poisoning, drowning, and sexual assault. At MADD, we offer a variety of programs at different age levels aimed at preventing underage drinking and ultimately prevent deadly behaviors, including drinking and driving.
*Minnesota Student Survey 2004. Minnesota Department of Education, 2004.
Elementary: Pressure to drink alcohol can often start with students when they are in elementary school. Because young children are often faced with making mature decisions, MADD believes they should be provided with helpful, age-appropriate information to help them make healthy choices. It is the goal of MADD to empower students at every level to make choices that ensure their own and others' safety.
Visit our Protecting You/Protecting Me site to learn more about our elementary school curriculum.
Jr. & Senior High: More than half of all high school students WON'T be drinking this weekend, but it doesn't always seem that way. Junior and senior high students are faced with serious challenges and need all the information available to make informed decisions. MADD hopes to partner with students to both limit access to alcohol and invite them to become active decision-makers in their communities.
Visit our Youth In Action site to learn more about our community partnership program that reduces youth access to alcohol.
College: Countless college students are concerned with high-risk campus drinking and are eager to find solutions. In fact, a national opinion poll of college-age individuals found that:
- 70 percent favor 21 as the minimum age to sell or serve alcohol; and
- 65 percent want rules more strongly enforced.*
Other research indicates that, in general, college students want stricter policies and enforcement on campus. MADD activists and college students make logical allies in the efforts to make environmental changes to change the drinking culture on our nation's campuses.
Visit our UMADD site to learn more about our innovative college-level underage drinking, binge drinking, and drunk driving prevention strategy.
* The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Parents: It is hard for today's teen to escape the alcohol industry media bombardment and to resist peer pressures to drink. While some parents experience relief that their teen is "only" drinking, they may not know that alcohol is in fact a drug. Teens use alcohol more frequently and heavily than all other illicit drugs combined.* Alcohol kills more young people than all other illicit drugs combined.*, and this does not take into consideration the countless life-altering consequences of underage drinking that do not result in death. It is time to find solutions to this devastating problem plaguing our families.
*National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism "Make A Difference: Talk to you child about Alcohol" 2000.
*Grunbaum, et al, 2002
Teachers: MADD continues to develop resources that can go into the classroom to support ongoing educational efforts. Using the latest in science-based research, MADD has released a ground-breaking elementary alcohol use prevention curriculum that helps young children learn to protect themselves in a variety of unsafe situations. Utilizing multimedia technology, MADD has created assembly shows for students in grades 1-12 that raise student awareness of the importance of making good choices to stay healthy. It is the goal of MADD to support the work of teachers by providing quality materials on an on-going basis.
Upcoming Events:
All meetings are held at the St. Paul office unless otherwise noted.
January 19
Volunteer Orientation
January 26
Victim Support Group
January 27
Teen Safe Driving Summit
February 23
Victim Support Group
March 2
Volunteer Orientation
March 23
Victim Support Group
June 12
Walk Like MADD 5k