MADAWASKA – The social, medical and legal ramifications of underage drinking were discussed by more than 100 Madawaska-area residents and officials Tuesday night at a town hall meeting on “Preventing Underage Drinking.”

Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe, a national proponent of curbing underage drinking, led the discussion at the Madawaska Elementary School, telling his audience that it is a community issue and it requires the total community to resolve it.

Sobering statistics garnered from local, state and national surveys were given to parents. Among those were that 10 percent of 9- to 10-year-olds have started drinking, that 20 percent of those have said they have been drunk at least once and that 69 percent of high school-age youths say alcohol is easy to get.

The town hall meetings, held sporadically across the state, are an effort to increase community awareness, identify how it affects the community, and to brainstorm possible solutions.

The Madawaska session was organized by Fran Gendreau and volunteers.

Madawaska area residents felt the town hall meeting should be repeated for youths. Many signed a resolution offering their help to stem the problem. Others believed parents need to get involved after hearing that one of the major reasons the problem is as large as it is that many youths get their alcohol at home, from family members or from friends.

“The issue is here,” Rowe told the audience. “Alcohol is the leading drug problem among young people.

“Alcohol injures growing minds, it stems their development,” Rowe told parents. “It causes irreversible damage to adolescent brains.

“It is the gateway drug to everything else, and if we can keep kids from drinking, we can keep them away from harmful drugs,” he said bluntly. “In Maine, it is killing our kids.”

Dr. Beril Bayrak Belucu, a pediatrician with Northern Maine Medical Center at Fort Kent and the Acadia Health Center at Madawaska agreed with Rowe.

“It’s a major health problem, that affects behavior and health,’ she said. “It’s a drug that affects decision-making, homicide and teen suicide, sexual behavior, assaults and sexually transmitted diseases.

“It hampers brain development , bothering memory and learning,” she said. “It also causes liver and heart problems,” she said. “The medical consequences are that the earlier children start to drink the damage worsens and alcoholism is more likely.”

Mark Nadeau, a guidance director at Madawaska’s Middle School, discussed the results of a recent alcohol survey done with students at the Madawaska Middle-High School. The survey was done anonymously, removing the reason to lie.

He showed that nearly 4 percent of sixth-graders have used alcohol, and that number rises to 17 percent by 12th grade. Some 55 percent of 12th graders said they had used alcohol more than 10 times, with 53 percent saying it was within the last 30 days.

The survey showed that 11 percent of eighth-graders would accept a drink offered them, and 69 percent of 12th-graders said they would as well.

Overall in Madawaska, 51 percent of sixth- to eighth-graders said alcohol was from easy to sort of hard to get. More than 46 percent of high school-age youths said alcohol was very easy to access.

Jack Foster, a prevention specialist with the Aroostook Mental Health Center told parents about the Aroostook Teen Leadership Camp, held every summer, and their programs to stem the use of alcohol among northern Maine youths.

Three girls who have attended the camps told parents of the information they received there to help them in their lives. The youths attending the camps help their own peers in their hometowns.

MID Crew, a group of Madawaska students, performed several skits depicting the problems of underage drinking, and how youths look at alcohol.

Madawaska Police Chief Ronald Pelletier told the audience of the border problem. Youths as young as 18 can drink legally in the province of Quebec, just 15 miles from Madawaska, and at 19 in neighboring New Brunswick, just across the river from Madawaska.

He urged parents to get involved. He said parents should tell police if they know of parties, in homes or elsewhere, where alcohol will be served to minors. Adults serving alcohol to minors can face serious legal implications, he told the audience.

Beurmond Banville was the facilitator for the Madawaska town hall meeting Tuesday night.