By John Newton, La Voz Latina

It's no secret that young Hispanics living in the United States today are under a great deal of stress as they try to assimilate into US culture. Many of them turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with this stress.
According to a recent study, Hispanic youths are more likely to drink and to get drunk at an earlier age than their non-Hispanic white or African-American counterparts.
Youth who drink alcohol are more likely to experience: • School problems, such as higher absence and poor or failing grades. • Social problems, such as fighting and lack of participation in youth activities. • Legal problems, such as arrest for driving or physically hurting someone while drunk. • Physical problems, such as hangovers or illnesses. • Unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity. • Disruption of normal growth and sexual development. • Physical and sexual assault. • Higher risk for suicide and homicide. • Alcohol-related car crashes and other unintentional injuries, as burns, falls, and drowning. • Memory problems. • Abuse of other drugs. • Changes in brain development that may have life-long effects. • Death from alcohol poisoning.
The big question today is what can be done to modify and/or prevent this behavior?
In Georgia, one state agency has taken a community-based approach that enlists the ideas and efforts of a cross-section of concerned volunteers to educate these youth on the dangers of alcohol abuse.
The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (GDBHDD) has joined forces with CETPA, a mental health and substance abuse counseling clinic in Norcross, Ga. to combat this problem with a program called The Georgia Alcohol Initiative of 2012. The objective of this initiative is to implement statewide prevention strategies that are consistent with the following goals: 1) Reduce the early onset of alcohol use among 9 to 20-year-olds, 2) Reduce access to alcohol and binge drinking, and 3) Reduce binge and heavy drinking among 18 to 25-year-olds.
Last month, the group held an organizational meeting at Savannah's First Hispanic Baptist Church In attendance were Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, CETPA staffers Diana Rosado and Nicky Lopez, Sgt. Armando Tamargo of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, Manuel Cabrera of the Latin American Services Organization (LASO), Deanne Bergen, prevention specialist with GDBHDD, and Armstrong Atlantic State University students Yara Rodriguez and Guillermo Montes representing HOLA, the Hispanic Outreach & Leadership at Armstrong program.
Rosado and Lopez led the meeting and said their immediate goal was to get more local Hispanics involved in the initiative.
“Our work group here will be made up of members of this community,” Rosado said. “Our first project is to create a media campaign to promote the prevention of underage and binge drinking.”
Because of his job with the local police department, Sgt. Tamargo has a unique understanding of just how costly an arrest for drunk driving can be.
“I think an ad where we totaled up each one of the costs that is incurred when someone is arrested for DUI might be very effective,” he said. “Of course, driving under the influence could also have an adverse effect on their legal status as well.”
Nicky Lopez was especially proud to have the HOLA students involved in this project.
“We really wanted to partner with a student organization like HOLA because we realize they are living in one of the communities we have targeted and they have first-hand knowledge of this problem,” she said.
The group's next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 8 at 1pm at the First Hispanic Baptist Church, 1 Gamble Rd, Savannah. For more information, phone the pastor at 912-920-3051 or 912-441-3823. You can reach Diana Rosado at 678-646-5959 or visit CETPA on the internet at http://www.cetpa.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/CETPANEWS