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Some
information about underage drinking in San Diego County's
rural communities: |
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... |
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| According to a
recent survey of local high school students . . . underage
drinking is a big problem in rural communities of east San
Diego County! |
- 78% of local high school
seniors had ridden in a car with a drinking driver
within seven days prior to the survey!
- Average age of first
alcohol consumption was 12 years old!
- 78% of local high school
seniors drank enough to be very drunk within
seven days prior to the survey!
- 46% of local students
drink alcohol at parties where parents are present,
while 56% of high school seniors have obtained beer
from Mexico, either by themselves or from a friend.
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| Teen drinking
contributes to lots of public health and safety problems
including: |
- Deaths from injuries
resulting from impaired driving
- Unplanned pregnancy
- Poor performance of drop
out from school
- Addiction to alcohol and
other drugs
- Alcohol- related crime
and violence including rape and murder
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| We can do
something to protect teens and in doing so, the entire
community! A public health and safety strategy is to
introduce a comprehensive, highly collaborative and
efficient plan to reduce youth access and underage drinking
in the rural communities of San Diego County. This strategy
includes: |
- Increase capacity and
effectiveness of collaboration on underage drinking
issues by agencies and community members. Working
together to discover shared issues and solutions can
strengthen partnerships and maximize shared
resources.
- Introduce
high-visibility law enforcement. There has been
little enforcement of various DUI and underage
drinking laws throughout San Diego's rural communities.
Strong DUI enforcement, frequent public information
about DUI enforcement and broad discussion of safer
community norms reduces DUI and increases public safety.
- Incorporate the use of
data and newsmaking. This helps provide public
understanding and support for solving DUI problems in
rural communities.
- Collaborate with
resources outside of rural East County. We can learn
from each other!
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Together we can change these dangerous
statistics on underage drinking in the rural communities in San
Diego County. Call today to participate and learn more about
potential collaborators and resources you can utilize:
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Patti Yanochko,
Institute for Health Advocacy, (619) 474-8844 ext. 29, pyanochko@iha-news,org
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Initial funding had been provided by
San Diego State University Foundation and the California Office of
Traffic Safety.
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