Nevada Coalition Aims to Curb Meth and Alcohol Use

It isn´t just alcoholism that youth run the risk of developing if they start drinking at an early age. A survey in rural Nevada showed that youth who began drinking before the age of 10 also had a higher chance of using methamphetamine later on in life. Armed with that knowledge, the Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties, a CADCA member coalition, developed a comprehensive approach that combines alcohol and methamphetamine use prevention.

According to the region’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 12 percent of young people in the area tried methamphetamine—among the highest rates for youth methamphetamine use in the country. In addition, among children who first used alcohol before 8 years old, 31.6 percent tried meth; and among those who tried alcohol between the ages of 9-10, 38.1 percent went on to use meth. The figures were dramatically different if they waited until they reached 17, with only 8 percent reporting meth use.

“That’s why we decided to not only focus our efforts on preventing methamphetamine use, but also steering kids away from alcohol use,” explained Christy McGill, Director of the Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties.

Among the coalition’s key strategies was a social norms campaign aimed at changing the attitudes parents had about youth alcohol use.

“Most parents in our community believe that all kids drink, and assume that we have high rates of youth alcohol use, but the reality is that most of our youth stay sober,” McGill said. “We hope that with the help of our campaign, parents won’t be as ready to turn a blind eye to their child’s drinking and blow it off as normal teenage life.”

The coalition also tapped their youth leaders to educate the community about the dangers of methamphetamine use. Working with law enforcement, youth leaders held community forums on meth. They also developed multi-media messages and distributed them through popular youth venues, such as MySpace.

The messages, based on real local stories of people in recovery from methamphetamine and other drugs, highlighted the devastation of addiction, so that young people could see the impact that drug abuse can have on their lives and the community. They also underscored how drug addiction can affect businesses and destroy families. “We didn’t think it was enough to just start giving out information. We wanted people to realize the social and economic effects of addiction,” McGill noted.

McGill said because most of the messaging about methamphetamine and underage drinking comes from youth, other young people are more likely to believe it and take it seriously. “It’s coming right from the source so they think it’s more credible,” she said.

CADCA celebrates the work of its coalition members! To learn more about the Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties, visit www.healthycomm.org.