Schools

Is Underage Drinking a Problem in Catonsville?

Campus officials are encouraging parents to talk to their young adults more about drinking.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it simply: Underage alcohol use is a major public health problem.

According to the CDC, people aged 12 to 20 drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States and more than 90 percent of that alcohol is chugged in the form of binge drinking.

Recently, Montgomery County officials have focused on stemming underage drinking parties

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At a displayed stacks of kegs and 24-packs of beer seized from underage drinking parties in the county.

A task force of local police agencies busted 23 underage drinking parties and issued 239 alcohol citations to youth in possession of or providing alcohol, between Nov. 16 and Jan. 7, said Capt. Thomas Didone of the Montgomery County Police Department.

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Howard County police spokesman Bryce Buell said underage drinking is also a concern for the police department, which places a "significant focus" on cracking down on the use of fake identification cards.

In 2011 police issued nearly 500 charges related to identification cards and 41 charges for possession of alcohol under the age of 21, according to data supplied by Buell.

At least one college campus in the region—UMBC— has changed its strategy in the last two years to encourage parents to become more involved in discussing drinking with their sons and daughters, said Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Kim Leisey.

“Parents can highly influence their students’ behavior around alcohol,” Leisey said in an interview with Patch. "If there’s a parent who talks about, ‘When I went to school in the '70s, they had trucks of beer in campus, and your college experience will be just like that,’ the expectation for a student will be: Alcohol is a huge part of a college.”

UMBC officials on staff during orientation have recently been given talking points on how to discuss alcohol with parents, she said. In the past, staff gave information to parents on campus rules surrounding alcohol; now they include facts on how best to talk with their children about it, she said.

Twelve percent of UMBC drinkers binge drink, compared to the national average of 25 percent Leisey said.

Staff at Howard Community College in Columbia said they are not seeing “too many people" coming forward with concerns about binge drinking.

“We’re in Columbia--I don’t even know where the closest bar is, whereas a lot of four-year schools, bars flock to those areas,” said HCC Wellness Coordinator Tara Rupp. “They are trying to get business.”


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