Startling statistics inspired a Carroll agency to focus its annual drug summit tonight on underage drinking.
About 205 18- to 20-year-olds have been charged with underage drinking this year, an 18 percent jump from last year?s total of 174 cases, according to the Carroll County State?s Attorney?s Office.
Underage drinking “is a major problem here,” said Linda Auerback, assistant substance abuse prevention coordinator for Junction Inc., an outpatient treatment agency holding the summit with the county government. “We?ve had a lot of tragedies.”
A girl, 15, died last spring after riding in a car with a drunken driver.
An 18-year-old man overdosed on alcohol last year, as did a 20-year-old man in March.
But teenagers are tired of hearing that underage drinking is dangerous, Auerback said.
The average age, for example, for Carroll youth to have their first drink and lose their virginity is 12.5, said Mark Yount, substance abuse prevention coordinator.
Paul Zimmerman, director of FoolProof, an improvisational troupe comprising high schoolers, said its skits, which will be performed at the summit, are a powerful way to illustrate the dangerous consequences of substance abuse.
One performance ? which depicts an alcoholic mother forgetting to pick up her child from school ? hit a nerve with an audience member, he said.
A patient at Eldersburg?s Shoemaker Addiction Rehabilitation Center asked the student portraying the mother, “Mommy, why did you leave me there at school?”
IF YOU GO
» When: 6:30 tonight
» Where: 225 N. Center St., Westminster
