What can you do?

No matter who you are, there's something you can do to prevent underage drinking:

Parents:

Educate yourself, your children, and others about the risks of underage drinking, and set clear and consistent expectations about not using alcohol before age 21
Use the monitoring tips at www.maineparents.net - whenever possible, start these habits well before your children reach their teenage years
Be careful about the messages you send about alcohol - use the modeling tips at www.maineparents.net

Youth:

Take a stand and feel comfortable refusing alcohol, don't give in to peer pressure
Be a good role model for younger siblings and others who look up to you
Get involved in community efforts to reduce underage drinking - be part of the solution

Pediatricians and Other Health Care Providers:

Educate your patients and their parents about the dangers of underage drinking
Include screening for alcohol and other drug use in your standard practice when seeing teenagers
Provide information to parents about prevention strategies, including the monitoring and modeling tips at www.maineparents.net

Schools:

Implement evidence-based prevention substance abuse programs to educate students and their parents
Identify and refer students using alcohol for appropriate interventions
Consistently and fairly enforce school substance abuse policies

Law Enforcement:

Adopt and implement a clear departmental underage drinking enforcement policy, like the Maine Chiefs of Police/OSA model policy at http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/osa/prevention/lawenforcement
Aggressively investigate and prosecute adults who provide or sell alcohol to minors
Partner with others in your community to ensure a comprehensive multi-faceted approach to underage drinking prevention that does not rely on enforcement alone to solve the problem

Alcohol Retailers:

Set a goal of zero sales to minors and then establish effective management practices to achieve it
Sign on to the Youth Empowerment and Policy Group's "Alcohol Retailer's Local Marketing Code of Conduct" ( http://www.neias.org/YEP/docs06.html )
Participate in Project Sticker Shock to educate adults who buy alcohol about the furnishing laws ( http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/osa/prevention/youth/sticker.htm )

Other Community Members:

Join a local coalition that is working on underage drinking prevention ( http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/osa/prevention/communitycontacts.htm )
Offer public support for prevention and enforcement efforts; thank retailers who do a good job

Be aware of the messages you send to young people you interact with - the modeling tips for parents at www.maineparents.net apply to all adults.