April is Alcohol Awareness Month. This year, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has decided to make the theme “Changing Attitudes: It’s not a ‘rite of passage.’”. According to locally collected data, CCSHM found that this is a commonly occurring theme. At the parent level, in Morris County, there is a widespread acceptance that alcohol is, in fact, a rite of passage, but parents also deny that youth alcohol consumption takes place in their own home. By understanding the risks of underage drinking, we, as a community, can alter the perception of drinking alcohol being a rite of passage. After all, if a youth is drinking as a rite of passage, but not in the home, where are they and how safe can it truly be?
