On Wednesday, February 26th, the Alliance of
Coalitions for Change (AC4C), a state-wide collaboration to effect positive
change in substance abuse, met with the state legislators to discuss their
concerns about underage drinking and substance use in Iowa.
The Van Buren County Youth Leadership Council was among several
community coalitions, representing a mixture of Iowa’s rural and urban
populations at this event.
Multiple prevention strategies are occurring throughout the
state of Iowa, resulting in significant decreases in underage drinking. Yet, major problems still remain: Iowa still ranks in the top 10 states for
underage (age 12-20) binge drinking.
The 2012 Iowa Youth Survey showed 19% of Iowa 11th graders
reporting binge drinking in the past 30 days.
This is down from 24% in 2010.
This remains more than one out of every five 11th grader in Iowa that
report engaging in binge drinking in the past month.
Past 30 day use of alcohol and binge drinking numbers are
decreasing for Iowa teens, but underage binge drinking is still very high
compared to other states. This is still
an issue that needs to be addressed in our state and community.
The AC4C press conference was held in the West Hall of the 1stfloor
rotunda 11:30 A.M. until to 12:00 P.M. Media, legislators and the public were
encouraged to attend. Van Buren County’s
own Lydia Heald spoke during the press conference to help inform our state of
the issues in substance abuse that are facing our state currently.
For further information, please contact the Van Buren County
SAFE Coalition at 319-293-6412 or by email at info@vbsafecoalition.com or Jennifer
Husmann at 319-721-4463 by email at jhusmann@asac.us
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