Reminder: Bernards Township Municipal Alliance Hosting Youth Program on Drug, Alcohol Use

The Bernards Township Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse a series of presentations that will feature Ridge Against Alcohol and Drugs (RAAD), a youth leadership group based out of Bernards Township.

The program, titled “Out of the Mouth of… Teens!”, in partnership with the Ridge High School and William Annin Middle School Parent Teacher Organizations and Bernards Township School District, will take place on Thursday, April 9, at Bernards Town Hall in the Warren Craft Meeting Room from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“Out of the Mouth of... Teens!” was inspired by RAAD’s action plan, developed at its annual week-long leadership conference, which determined the biggest problem in Bernards Township was parents and other adults serving alcohol or allowing alcohol teens to consume alcohol in their homes, according to a release from Bernards Township.

According to the release from Bernards Township, of the Bernards Township students who have used alcohol in the past 12 months, 42 percent consumed it at a home where the parents knew it was happening, while 39 percent consumed alcohol at home without parents knowing.

“Out of the Mouth of…Teens” will provide students in Bernards Township the opportunity to speak up for themselves about the issue, the release said.

“We are presenting up-to-date, accurate information about the developing adolescent brain, but we are not the ones presenting it,” Bernards Township Health Officer, Lucy Forgione, said in the release. “This is giving teens in our town a strong platform to speak and a chance to tell us about what they think about issues that affect them; like drugs, alcohol, pressure, school, in their own words.”

For more information regarding this program, visit the Bernards Alliance website.

(Image courtesy of Bernards Township)