Young people face tremendous peer pressure, which too often involves illegal drinking.
We need to give parents, educators, health care professionals and community leaders the tools they need to help kids remain alcohol-free. Capps' bill would provide competitive five year grants to private organizations and local governmental agencies to develop and implement programs and services to reduce underage drinking. Applicants would need to demonstrate science based and age appropriate approaches, involve local public health officials and community prevention program staff in the planning and implementation of the program, and would need to report annually to the HHS Secretary on the effectiveness of their prevention programs. Clearly, this is a problem we need to address at an early age. I believe my bill will help.