OPINION: Florence 1 right to remind students consequences of underage drinking

It’s football season. And to a lot of people, that also means it’s party time.
While officials in Florence School District 1 want nothing more than for students to have the time of their lives at Memorial Stadium, they don’t want students to risk their lives doing it.
More to the point, school officials don’t want students using alcohol or other controlled substances at football games or any school athletic event.
“We intend for our athletic events to be family friendly and safe for everyone in attendance,” says Florence School District 1 Superintendent Larry Jackson. “We want parents to be aware that we have provided brochures for all high school students, which outline the consequences of possessing, consuming or purchasing alcohol.”
The brochures, titled “Know the rules before you play the game,” were distributed in cooperation with Circle Park Prevention Services, a division of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and other Drug Abuse Services.
Teams of law enforcement specializing in drug and alcohol abuse prevention have been and will continue to be on site at all games at Memorial Stadium this season.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs.
Although persons younger than age 21 purchasing or consuming alcohol is illegal, 12- to 20-year-olds account for 11 percent of all alcohol consumed nationwide, according to the CDC.
Research also shows that when youth drink, they often binge drink. That can lead to an array of problems such as absence from school, poor grades, fighting, unwanted, unplanned and unprotected sexual activity, alcohol poisoning, injuries and automobile accidents.
The CDC found that in 2005 there were more than 145,000 emergency room visits by youth 12 to 20 years for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol.
And according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, about 5,000 people younger than 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from falls, burns and drownings.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
What we need to realize is underage drinking can almost always be linked back to decisions made or not made by people over the legal age of 21.
If a person younger than 21 can’t legally purchase alcohol, where do they get it? While fake IDs are certainly a problem, so too are things such as consenting parents, adults who fail to secure their alcohol, cashiers who fail to check ID, and people older than 21 willing to buy alcohol for underage drinkers.
With all the commercialization of alcohol in pop culture, it’s easy to see how it appeals to our youth.
But our youth need to be reminded that there is a legal drinking age, and they need to be reminded there can be serious downsides to drinking, period.
They need to know you don’t have to have alcohol or other drugs to party at a football game or any event.
That knowledge should be passed down from those 21 and older. And we applaud officials in Florence School District 1 for their latest efforts to get that message across.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).