The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration has designated April as Alcohol Awareness month.

 While this may or may not have been intentional, it is appropriate to have situated the observance at just the right time to coincide with prom season, graduations and the upcoming summer gatherings.

Alcohol is so much a part of our culture that we sometimes forget that it is a serious psychoactive chemical that deserves to be treated with great respect.

Alcohol can damage the organs of the body.  Since it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream, it can increase the drinker’s risk for a variety of diseases.

Cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach are a few of the conditions associated with alcohol use.

In the past year, considerable information has been published relating to the affects of alcohol (America’s most abused drug) on the as-yet-undeveloped adolescent brain.

Significant research has shown that alcohol affects younger people differently than it does adults; for example, younger people are more affected by alcohol’s disinhibitory effects, while at the same time, they’re much less affected than their older counterparts by alcohol’s sedative effects.

Simply put, adolescents may be able to stay awake longer while drinking, but their inhibitions abandon them earlier and stay away longer.  This is a combination destined to end badly, all too often in accidents caused by risky behaviors.

Alcohol poisoning results from downing too much alcohol too fast and is far more serious than “passing out”.

Large amounts of alcohol depress nerves that control involuntary actions such as breathing and the gag reflex (which prevents choking).

A fatal dose of alcohol will eventually stop these functions.

Approximately 50,000 cases of alcohol poisoning are reported each year in the United States.  Even more frightening, approximately once per week, someone dies from alcohol poisoning because most people are unaware of what to look for or how to respond.

Studies conducted over extended periods of time have shown repeatedly that the younger a person is when he or she begins drinking, the more likely it is that s/he will develop alcohol problems in his/her life.

In fact, people who begin drinking by age 15 are five times more likely to abuse or become dependent on alcohol than those who begin drinking after the age 20.

Other studies show that more than 35 percent of adults with alcohol problems developed symptoms--such as binge drinking--by age 19.

Anyone with any knowledge or experience with alcoholism will surely agree that it behooves all adults to help adolescents stay away from alcohol.

How can we protect the young people in our community?

The most important thing families and other adults can do is to talk with the teens who matter to them about alcohol, its dangers, and how to keep themselves safe. To get accurate and useful information for these conversations, contact 7 Valleys Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (7V CASA) at 756-8970 or Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition at 756-5992 ext 25.

You can also visit  http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/seasonal/aprilalcohol which is part of the SAMHSA website.

This article is based on the work of Joan Stivers of 7V CASA and information from the SAMHSA website.  Jo Ann Wickman is a CACTC Board member and Chair of the public relations workgroup PR. Com.