New events sharpen awareness month's focus on youth drinking.(Alcohol Awareness Month)

With underage drinking having become the target of the addiction field's Alcohol Awareness Month events over the past decade, leaders in several states this year have launched new efforts to highlight the importance of youth-focused prevention.

Among the signature events this year have been a series of town hall meetings held across the country to disseminate local data about underage drinking and to galvanize communitywide support for effective interventions. Efforts of a group called Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free have brought about many of these community discussions.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Robert …