Mayor Taveras, Mayor's Substance Abuse Prevention Council Host Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking

More than 150 Providence residents joined Mayor Angel Taveras and the Mayor's Substance Abuse Prevention Council on Thursday, May 31 at the Christian Community Church on 353 Elmwood Avenue for a Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking.

The meeting was held to raise public awareness of the dangers of underage drinking for Providence youth, and to move towards of more effective public action to address this public health issue.

"Underage drinking is a significant public health concern that affects our youth, our city, our state and of course our entire nation," said Mayor Taveras. "We all need to work together to address the consequences of underage drinking, and having strong community partnerships is one of our best strategies in this effort. There is always more to do to keep our children safe."

At the public forum, Rhode Island-based prevention specialist Nancy Devaney gave a presentation on the effects of alcohol on teenagers and moderated a panel discussion on underage drinking and its effects. Panel members included Providence Public Safety Commissioner Stephen Paré; Jim Gillen, Director of the Anchor Recovery Center; Delia Rodriguez-Masjoan, a parent and member of the Board of Licenses; Chuck Cudworth, of RI Student Assistance Services, who provide substance abuse counselors working with students in all Providence high schools; and Brendan Lombardi, who recently completed serving more than eight years in prison for an underage drunk driving incident that resulted in the death of two friends. State Representative Raymond Hull and City Councilors Carmen Castillo, Michael Correia, Kevin Jackson, and Wilbur Jennings were also in attendance.

"We are a community," Jim Gillen told the audience largely made up of parents. "We are the most important people to prevent teen drinking". Commissioner Paré added that while the police department is doing its best to reduce underage drinking in clubs and bars and stop underage sales at liquor stores, the city's police cannot address the problem of underage drinking alone, and that parents, other relatives and caregivers, business owners, and the entire community need to work together on the issue.

Teen alcohol abuse can have significant implications for the physical and mental health of our young people and in some cases is even deadly. Nationally, 5,000 youth under the age of 21 die each year because of underage alcohol consumption and one in three eighth graders drink alcohol. In Providence as of 2010, one in three high school students have reported they had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.