MANSFIELD — As graduation and summer celebrations begin, the Richland County Youth Substance Use Coalition is asking adults to help prevent underage drinking by refusing to provide alcohol to minors.
Project Sticker Shock is a national prevention campaign aimed at adults who may buy or provide alcohol for young people.
The coalition is distributing stickers with the help of a couple of local businesses that want to ensure youth remain safe. Donato’s Pizza on Lexington Avenue and Romeo’s Pizza on South Main Street will have these stickers placed on each pizza box that goes out.
The stickers carry a direct message: “It is illegal to give alcohol to a minor. Thank you for doing the right thing and keeping our youth alcohol free.”
The message is especially important as graduation and summer begins, a time when alcohol use increases. The coalition is urging parents, guardians, and other adults to set clear expectations and not provide alcohol to anyone under 21.
“Gatherings should be remembered for the right reasons,” said Gurpinder Deol, health educator for Richland Public Health and coordinator for the Richland County Youth Substance Use Coalition.
“Adults play a major role in keeping young people safe. That starts with not providing alcohol and not looking the other way when teens have access to it,” Deol said.
Ohio law prohibits people from selling, buying or furnishing beer or intoxicating liquor to an underage person, with limited exceptions including when the underage person is supervised by a parent, legal guardian or spouse who is not underage.
State law also prohibits property owners or occupants from knowingly allowing underage drinking on their premises unless a legal exception applies.
Beyond the legal risk, underage drinking can have lasting consequences. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says underage drinking is linked to deaths, injuries, impaired judgment, increased risk of physical and sexual assault, problems at school and with the law, and a higher risk of alcohol problems later in life.
The coalition is encouraging parents, guardians, and other concerned adults to talk with young people regularly about the prevention of underage alcohol use by setting clear behavior expectations, knowing where teens are going and with whom, and making sure alcohol is not available in any form to them.
For more information about the Richland County Youth Substance Use Coalition or to get involved, visit drugfreerc.org or call 419-774-4754.