Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 12 : Spring 2012 | Page 73

Can you describe some of the work you do?

The work involves education, advocacy, and action.
Education strategies might include alcohol training for
law enforcement, in which the need increased when State
Liquor Enforcement was abolished in 2003, or responsible
seller/server training for retailers. An example of advocacy
was when the coalition, prior to my coming on board,
worked with Senator Jackson to pass a bill requiring store
owners to post the law and penalty for furnishing alcohol
to minors. And action strategies, well this comes into play
when we’re asked to reactively respond to something that
has occurred and created issue, or proactively like when we
engage in Sticker Shock.
What is Community Voices doing right now?

We’ve been busy conducting the groundwork for
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration project
that Aroostook County has been selected to participate
in. We’ve been collecting data from high school students,
college, and parents and preparing for increased law
enforcement efforts and media coverage of the issue. It’s
been quite interesting and a privilege to be one of only four
sites nationally to participate in the federal project.
What are the biggest challenges in the work that
Community Voices does?

We’re always walking uphill, or so it seems. Working
to reduce the usage and harms associated with a legal, and
socially accepted substance is difficult. The alcohol culture
runs deep; it’s embedded into our communities, families,
and society, especially the media. Turn on the radio,
television, internet, read a magazine, it’s in your face.

Specifically as pertains to youth, we too often hear
of it referred to as a “right of passage” or “well at least it’s only
alcohol.” When a fatality or incident occurs, communities
mobilize in response. But why do we wait for such tragedy?
Helping the community understand that just because we’re
not hearing of a fatality a day, so to speak, doesn’t mean that
harms are not occurring. Of the deaths involving
alcohol, only a third are from car accidents. The
other 2/3 are from alcohol poisonings, assaults,
fires, and suicide. Not to forget all of the injuries
that occur from physical and sexual assaults,
or other unintended consequences such as the
legal ramifications, risk of ruining a career path
with an infraction on one’s record; risky sexual
behavior and unintended pregnancy and STDs;
increased chance for abuse and dependence - the chances of alcohol abuse and dependence

are significantly increased the younger a person starts using
alcohol. Another misperception is “it doesn’t affect me, I
don’t have a teenager . . .” Well, really underage drinking
is everyone’s problem with significant health, safety, and
financial impacts. I was just reading a report from the
CDC that stated underage drinking costs the U.S. $755
million a year in hospitalizations