NO Alcohol for our Kids

The goal of the Youth Alcohol Use Awareness Campaign, which focuses on our youth and their health, is 3-fold.

1. To create awareness amongst the youth on the risks and dangers of alcohol use at an early age and substance abuse in general and creating awareness amongst parents on the moral responsibility that they have when it comes to their children using alcohol and other substances;

2. To create awareness amongst the general public, and parents specifically, of the fact that many youngsters on our St. Maarten drink and/or smoke at a very early age, and/or use or experiment with drugs.

3. Our campaign aims at adjustment of the law by raising the legal drinking age from 16 to 21, creating repercussions for businesses that sell to minors and

In the past the St. Maarten Lions Club ran a successful drug-awareness campaign with its signature slogan: ‘Say NO to drugs’ and ‘Drug-free Body’ Now the focus is not on drugs, but Alcohol abuse and on the Youth specifically.

Too many of our children are dropping out of school or failing their classes due to reasons usually related to substance use and abuse. Alcohol use in the Caribbean is an overall growing problem however, it is up to us, the adults of our community to protect our children and provide them with every opportunity, including knowledge, to be able to develop into healthy adults with a fair chance of success in life.

As it is, the St. Maarten Lions club currently sees that a large group of our youth is not (sufficiently) being offered this chance because the community in general is not totally aware of what goes on with them, because the youth itself is insufficiently aware of the dangers of substance use, and because the law in place does not offer the right protection by allowing them to drink alcohol at 16.

It is for these reasons that the St. Maarten Lions club has decided to start their focus on the youth and their substance use and abuse in this 2014-2015Lionistic year.

STAKEHOLDERS:
The entire community of St. Maarten, the youth, the adults, the schools, the SMMC (where the youth come in regularly due to alcohol poisoning), the KPSM (local police force), government’s Collective prevention service/youth health care, social services and the court of guardianship.