Community Center hosts town hall meeting on April 19 about underage and binge drinking

WARWICK — Annie Colonna, the assistant director of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Orange County, will host a town hall meeting on binge drinking on Thursday, April 19, at the Warwick Valley Community Center.

This town hall meeting will be sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in conjunction with the Warwick Valley Community Coalition. The purpose of this event is to:

Educate community members about the consequences of underage drinking.

Empower communities to make environmental changes to prevent underage drinking.

Mobilize communities around underage drinking prevention initiatives at the local, state and national levels.

There will be a discussion of the social norms of drinking in America and how they affect underage and abusive drinking practices. This will be an opportunity to educate and spread awareness of the problem, as well as how to recognize the signs of abusive drinking, and how to identify the best practices and strategies for the prevention of underage drinking.

According to the press release from the community center announcing the program, a recent survey by New York State shows that underage drinking is widespread. Approximately 847,000 underage customers in New York drink each year. Students in grades 9-12 reported:

71.1 percent had a least one drink of alcohol on one or more days during their life.

21 percent had their first drink of alcohol, other than a few sips before age 13.

41.4 percent had a least one drink of alcohol on one or more occasion in the past 30 days.

23.8 percent had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row (binge drinking) in the past 30 days.

If you go The meeting will be held Thursday, April 19, at 6 p.m., in the Doc Fry Building located at 11 Hamilton Ave., Warwick. For further information call 845-986-6422.