FIRST LADY SUPPORTS SURGEON GENERAL’S CALL TO ACTION ON UNDERAGE DRINKING

Hoeven to Work with Parents, Educators, Communities to Implement Goals in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. – First Lady Mikey Hoeven announced today her support of Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu’s call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking, an initiative announced earlier this month that focuses on six goals to prevent alcohol use among America’s youth. Hoeven expressed her continued commitment to work with parents, educators and communities throughout the state to implement these goals in North Dakota.

“This call to action is a valuable tool that we intend to use throughout North Dakota to mobilize communities to stop underage drinking,” Hoeven said. “It will help us shine a spotlight on a serious problem that, in some way, affects every family.

“We thank Acting Surgeon General Moritsugu for prioritizing this issue and calling attention to the harm that results when children drink. We will reach out to parents, educators, health care providers, law enforcement personnel, business leaders and others to share the recommendations and find ways to implement them here in North Dakota.”

The new call to action notes that alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s youth and that adolescence is a time when the developing brain may be particularly susceptible to long-term negative effects from alcohol use. It offers six goals that focus on: fostering changes in society; engaging parents and other caregivers in a coordinated national effort to prevent and reduce underage drinking; promoting understanding of consumption as well as ethnic, cultural and gender differences; conducting additional research; improving public health surveillance; and ensuring that policies at all levels are consistent with the goal of preventing and reducing underage alcohol consumption. It is available online at www.surgeongeneral.gov.

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Mikey L. Hoeven is co-chair of the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a unique, nonpartisan coalition of Governors’ spouses, federal agencies and public and private organizations working to prevent the use of alcohol by children ages 9 to 15. More information on Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free is available at www.alcoholfreechildren.org.