Parents in the South Butler County School District had a great opportunity to learn how to help their children avoid underage drinking and vaping.

A presentation on the matter was held Tuesday in the Knoch High School Legacies Learning Commons.

It was led by Lisa Gill, of the Butler County Human Services Drug and Alcohol Program; Mark Peffer, chief deputy at the Butler County Sheriff's Office; and Lisa Miller, prevention provider with Adagio Health. Topics included the legal ramifications of underage drinking, the power parents have on the matter and awareness about the dangers of vaping.

The event was intended for parents of students in grades four through 12. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period.

This was a great idea — and one that should be held regularly in districts throughout the county.

Although it might be difficult to gauge the drinking, smoking or vaping habits of youths over the past few years due to COVID-19, which left students shuttling back and forth between in-person and remote learning, studies prior to the pandemic showed that these vices were still practiced by significant numbers of high school — and even middle school — students around the nation.

Get Smart About Drugs — a Drug Enforcement Administration online resource that provides information for parents — noted that in 2019 about 14% of high-schoolers admitted to having vaped within the prior month, which was double the amount of students admitting to the habit from the previous year.

A National Institutes of Health study from 2020 found that the number of high school students who vaped ranged from 19% to 22%, depending on their grade level.

That institute also released a study in 2019 on underage drinking, finding that about 24% of youths between the ages of 14 and 15 reported having at least one drink that year.

Teenage drinking and smoking aren't anything new. National groups have been formed and millions of advertising dollars have been spent to try stop those habits among youths.

The dangers of drinking alcohol — and especially getting behind the wheel of a car after doing so — are well documented. Vaping presents its own dangers — most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which could make users more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future.

So, we're glad to see local organizations putting together a program on how to combat these challenges in our community.

We parents got some good ideas at the presentation for addressing these dangers at home.

— NCD