Too Smart to Start

Take the Too Smart to Start Challenge!

Step 1
Watch the Reach Out Now Teach-In to learn about the dangers of underage drinking from Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O'dell Owens, M.D., M.P.H.
Click here for the Reach Out Now Teach-In Viewer’s Guide

Step 2
Choose an activity to do with your parent or caregiver age 18 or older.

What to Know
Even though your body may be finished growing, your brain will continue to grow and to develop through age 20. Alcohol can damage your growing brain and cause problems for you now and in the future.

Learn more about how alcohol affects your brain's ability to see, to move, to remember and to make good decisions.

• Too Smart to Start Memory Game
  
• Too Smart to Start Interactive Body

What to Say
You know that using alcohol before you're 21 could cause serious problems for you and for your friends. If someone asks you to drink a beer, wine cooler, liquor or other alcoholic beverage, what do you say?

• Know What to Say
  
• Choose The Best Way

• What's Your Anti-Drug?

Step 3
Parents / Caregivers are invited to take our Too Smart to Start Parent / Caregiver Survey. Upon completion, you will be redirected to an online registration form. Just fill it out with your name, e-mail and phone number, and your family will be registered to win a football autographed by Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis, courtesy of the Marvin Lewis Community Fund! (One entry per family, please.)

The drawing will take place on Friday, May 31, 2007. A representative from the Coalition for a Drug-Free Cincinnati will contact the winner by 4:30 p.m., Friday, June 1, 2007.

What is Too Smart to Start?

Too Smart to Start is a national public education initiative that provides professionals and community volunteers with materials and strategies to help them conduct an underage alcohol use prevention initiative.

The target audiences for this initiative are 9-to-13-year olds and their parents/caregivers. The campaign’s goals are the following:

1. To increase the number of conversations that parents/caregivers and their 9-to-13-year olds have about the harms of underage alcohol use
2. To increase the percentage of 9-to-13-year olds and their parents/caregivers who see underage alcohol use as harmful 
3. To increase public disapproval of underage alcohol  use

Why is underage alcohol use prevention important?

• Alcohol is the number one drug-of-choice for seventh through twelfth grade students in the tri-state region. (CDFGC 2006 Student Drug Use Survey)
• The average age for first use of any alcohol is 12.7 years old. (CDFGC 2006 Student Drug Use Survey)                     
• Of people who begin drinking before age 14, 47 percent become dependent at some point, comparedwith 9 percent of those who begin drinking at age 21. (NIAAA:2006, Hingson)
• The human brain develops through age 20 and damage from alcohol on the developing brain can be long-term and irreversible.

What's happening in the tri-state?

The Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati and its network of community-based anti-drug coalitions and community organizations encourage tri-state 9-to-13-year olds to be Too Smart to Start drinking alcohol.

Beginning April 2, 2007, tri-state fourth through eighth grade teachers will be able to access a virtual Reach Out Now Teach-In, a research-based curriculum led by Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O’dell Owens. The Teach-In is designed to help students understand the dangers of illegal alcohol use. CET, the local PBS affiliate and Too Smart to Start community partner, will host the 30-minute Teach-In on their Web site www.cetconnect.org.

To support what kids will be learning at school, parents and caregivers age 18 and older are invited to do a homework assignment with their kids. By completing a questionnaire at www.DrugFreeCincinnati.org, families can enter to win a football autographed by Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis!

Too Smart to Start Communities

The Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati is supporting Too Smart to Start campaigns in local anti-drug coalitions throughout the 10-county, tri-state area. To learn more about what's happening in these communities, contact the person listed or click on the hyperlink.

• Citizens Against Substance Abuse (CASA) of Dearborn County, Indiana, Donna Thacker, 812-537-5065
• Coalition for a Drug-Free Lower Price Hill, Dr. A. Kay Clifton,
  513-244-2795
• Coalition for a Safe and Drug-Free Fairfield, Pat VanOflen ,
  513-226-8221
• Madeira Community Drug Task Force, Sharon Foreman,
  513-271-5348
• Mason Coalition for a Drug and Alcohol-Free Youth
• Stayin' Alive Franklin County, LCC
• Substance Awareness Greater Anderson
• Winton Woods Community Coalition

Too Smart to Start Supporters

The Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati extends its gratitude to the following organizations for supporting the 2007 Too Smart to Start initiative.

• CET, Greater Cincinnati's PBS station and a leading provider of education and enrichment in classrooms
• Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O'dell M. Owens, M.D., M.P.H.
• Brookville Community Library
• Fairfield Lane Public Library
• Laurel Community Library
• Lawrenceburg Public Library District
• Mason Public Library
• The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
• Marvin Lewis Community Fund

For more information, including a Too Smart to Start Community Action Kit, contact Coalition Coordinator of Environmental Strategies Trevor Phillips , 513-751-8000, ext. 13.

Click here to view the Too Smart to Start Parent Information and Tips document (pdf).

CLICK HERE TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED MARVIN LEWIS FOOTBALL.