Programs for Youth:

     Shattered Dreams: Unique in its design and powerful in its impact, “Shattered Dreams” is an educational experience that reminds us all of the dangers associated with underage drinking and driving. It reminds us that too many young lives have already been lost and countless others severely impaired because of the tragic consequences of underage drinking and when drinking is combined with driving. “Shattered Dreams” is about drinking and driving, it’s about living and dying.

     The program targets high school students and involves the dramatization of an alcohol-related crash on or near a high school campus, complete with police and EMS response, ER treatment, family notifications, and the arrest and booking of the drunk driver. The crash scene drama is played out before the student body during a school day. Throughout the day the other elements unfold: To give students a better understanding of the number of DWI-related deaths, an individual dressed as the “Grim Reaper” appears in a different classroom periodically throughout the school day to select a new victim, every 15-minutes. An assembly follows the crash scene the next day, in which the students are made aware of the program and the consequences of drunk driving. A few months later the drunk driver becomes the defendant in a mock trial in which he/she killed his friends in an alcohol-related crash.

     MADD is a coalition of Rio Grande Safe Communities, which developed a program named Operation Bridge to replace what was worked in preventing underage binge drinking in the San Diego/Tijuana border. It is an attempt to bring a solution to the El Paso-Juarez border region problem. The El Paso area faces a serious cross-border binge-drinking problem.

     The legal drinking age in Texas and New Mexico is 21.  The legal drinking age in Cd. Juarez, Mexico is 18.  Enforcement in Juarez is not strict. Consequently, it is not uncommon to see teens as young as 14 years old on the international bridges returning to the El Paso side of the border from Juarez dunk from a night of partying on Mexico. The Mexican bars often announce “Drink and Drown” pay-one-price specials in their radio and news print advertisements. At bar closing time, the international bridges in El Paso become busy with young crossers returning to their homes in El Paso, Ft Bliss, Alamogordo, Las Cruces and the El Paso suburbs. Youth are often observed vomiting as they amble across the sidewalks. Some youth are observed carrying their girlfriends or friends who have become incapacitated as a result of their alcohol intake. Too many youth drive home or drive home with a driver who is drunk.

     Operation BRIDGE will adapt the environment model to address problems in this community. This project is based on an integrated environmental prevention model that is composed of community organizing, policy, media advocacy, data collection and law enforcement partnership.

      As part of a 5-year on going study the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation (PIRE) has been collecting data on the Paso del Norte Bridge from 12 midnight to 6 a.m. regarding underage binge drinking. Members of the coalition and community who compose the Operation Bridge team will continue to collect data about the numbers and demographics of young people who cross the El Paso border in Juarez and will use the data to attempt to significantly reduce the incidence of such crossings over 5 years.

OTHER NEWS...
If you are a young person - or an adult - who would like to get involved in preventing underage drinking or changing the laws which allow youth easy access to alcohol, you may want visit these other great sites:
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Other related sites:
Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Texas Education Agency