up front encore
Sticker Shock
Teens campaign to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors J. Gabriel Ware
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R A MINOR TO FO D Courtesy Photos
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12 | Encore APRIL 2016
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Above: Stickers with a message warning adults not to buy alcohol for minors are n April 16, more than OW placed on multipacks in a local store. Opposite page: High school students Cody 100 Kalamazoo County students K Smith, Gallup and Ryda Sundila participated in the Sticker Shock project o o Y Y T T yo y O O C Nicole ou O O e e L L u s U U last year. E E from ages 14-19 will into ’ ’ u us by bwalk L L B B L L b b y th e th e eA eA K al K al nc nc st a ama ama b st a alcohol-selling businesses throughout coordinator. “Underage drinking tends to rise along with z o o C o u n ty S u b z o o C o u marketing n ty S u the Kalamazoo area to tag multi-packs youth car accidents and fatalities during that time.” of alcoholic beverages with stickers that read “Buy for a minor The most common way Kalamazoo County high school students today, tomorrow you'll be locked away." get alcohol is by having it given to them by someone, according to a The annual tagging effort, called Project Sticker Shock, is sponsored 2013 Michigan Profile for Health Youth survey. More than 75 percent by the Kalamazoo County Substance Abuse Task Force. The task force of Kalamazoo County minors who consumed alcohol said they got is housed at Prevention Works Inc., a local organization dedicated to it from an acquaintance or family member, according to the survey. preventing substance abuse among youth. A partnership among the The survey also revealed that 60 percent of Kalamazoo County high task force’s Youth Action Team and alcohol-selling businesses, Project school students said alcohol is easy to obtain and that 26 percent of Sticker Shock is aimed at making adults who go into the stores to buy county 11th-graders had drunk alcohol in the previous 30 days. alcohol for youth think twice before they do. Project Sticker Shock, which happens in communities throughout “We do it every spring because that’s prom and graduation season,” the country, began in this area seven years ago, and the number says Dani Persky, Prevention Works’ fund development and health of youth and alcohol-selling vendors participating has increased
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