UPC Hosts Forums on College Drinking

Many Fairfax County seniors are making their decisions on which college to attend, and those seniors and their parents are encouaged to attend local forums on binge drinking on college campuses. 

The Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County is hosting "The Perils of the College Drinking Culture" in collaboration with the Fairfax County Police Department in April and May. 

The next presentation is Tuesday at Herndon High School. Future presentations include May 16 at Mount Vernon High School and May 23 at Northern Virginia Community College's Ernst Community Cultural Center. All programs will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.

The events will include a screening of the award-winning documentary, Haze, followed by a question-and-answer session with a panel of experts. The panel includes Raymond Morrogh, Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County, and his deputy Casey Lingan; William Hauda, MD, emergency physician at Inova Fairfax Hospital; Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer and Captain Bruce Ferguson, commander of the Youth Services Division; Jeff Levy, father of a student who died after drinking at a college party; and Ryan Smith, a Virginia Tech graduate student. 

The program is an effort by Fairfax County leaders to address the health and legal risks associated with underage and binge drinking. The UPC also heads up the county's Parents Who Host Lose the Most public education campaign. The program educates parents about Virginia's underage drinking laws. UPC recently received a state grant for $200,000 a year to reduce underage and binge drinking among the county's 15-24-year-old residents. The Perils program is partially funded by a federal Drug Free Communities grant.