Alcohol Alerts
No. 73: Underage Drinking--Highlights From The Surgeon General's Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (2007)

In March 2007, the Acting Surgeon General of the United States issued a Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s (NIAAA’s) Underage Drinking Research Initiative provided much of the scientific foundation for that document. The Call to Action highlights the nature and extent of underage drinking and its consequences. It suggests a new, more comprehensive and developmentally sensitive approach to understanding, preventing, and reducing underage drinking. Importantly, the Call to Action emphasizes that everyone has a role in preventing and reducing underage drinking—parents, schools, communities, colleges and universities, the health care system, the criminal and juvenile justice systems and law enforcement, and governments and policymakers. Later in 2007, the Surgeon General also issued three separate guides—for families, educators, and communities—based on the Call to Action.

Download Full Alert (PDF)