Town Hall Meetings Planned
 Planning
is under way for Town Hall Meetings to be held on or
around March 28 in communities across the country as
part of a comprehensive plan to prevent and reduce underage
alcohol use.
The Town Hall Meetings are part of a national effort
to increase the understanding of underage drinking and
its consequences, and to encourage individuals, families,
and communities to address the problem.
The meetings will provide an opportunity for communities
to learn more about the new research on the issue and
to discuss how their local area can best prevent underage
alcohol use. These Town Hall Meetings are designed to
alert and empower the community and to generate interest
from the media.
The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention
of Underage Drinking is encouraging states and communities
to hold these meetings as a followup to the recent national
conference in Washington, DC, "Preventing Underage
Alcohol Use: A National Meeting of the States."
This conference brought together teams of state officials
and prevention, treatment, and enforcement professionals
from nearly every state, territory, and the District
of Columbia (see SAMHSA
News,
November/December 2005).
Each state or community organization will take the lead
in coordinating local events.
The Coordinating Committee is chaired by SAMHSA Administrator
Charles G. Curie, M.A., A.C.S.W., and includes members
from 12 Federal agencies and offices, including the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, and the U.S. Departments
of Education, Justice, Defense, Transportation, and Treasury.
For more information, visit the comprehensive portal
of Federal
resources on underage drinking at www.stopalcoholabuse.gov.
To view the public service announcements developed by
SAMHSA and the Ad Council, visit http://www.adcouncil.org/.
For questions, contact SAMHSA's Steve Wing, Associate
Administrator for Alcohol Prevention and Treatment Policy,
at
Stephen.Wing@samhsa.hhs.gov. 
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