USD 497 should institute more required health education instruction specifically focusing on alcohol abuse. The instruction should be required for graduation. Educate the parents of USD 497 students about the magnitude of the underage drinking problem in Lawrence and encourage them to work with their children to help lessen the problem. School district personnel are stretched too thin to effectively provide adequate instruction in this important area. The surveys conducted by USD 497 show that significant drinking occurs as early as the sixth grade and that parents often are unaware of this or deny that a problem exists.
Parents are in the best position to help break the cycle of alcohol problems.
Explore the establishment of a treatment and detoxification center within the community. Few options exist in the county for treating underage problem drinkers. In addition, there is no place other than the hospital emergency room to take those who are too drunk to care for themselves. Other such events might produce very good results. Students also told the Task Force that non-alcohol events are too scarce.