Students Against Driving Drunk are SADD

Every day there is a tragedy involving a student who drives drunk. There is an organization that meets frequently to attempt to reduce the student drinking population, through education of the hazards of this dangerous addiction.

This group, SADD, which orginally stood for Students Against Driving Drunk, ( commonly transposed as Students Against Drunk Driving ), and is now called Students Against Destructive Decisions, is an informative alcohol and drug abuse prevention program for adolescents and young teens which helps redirect young student energy to more positive pastimes.

SADD holds meetings and presentations to help students learn to resist peer pressure to drink alcohol. The Students Against Driving Drunk are most active around prom and homecoming because that is when the celebratory alcohol is most likely to be present.

Members of this group will show up at schools, make presentations, and hand out “prom-promise” key chains to help kids remember not to drink.

Another device used is the Empowerment wristband. This band is bright red and has the word Empowerment engraved into it, with the word Power bolder than the rest of the word so it will stand out. Students are empowered with the knowledge to make a difference in their schools and the general community.

This helps encourage students to spread the word about not drinking and to show support of those who do not drink alcohol. Students who attend these gatherings come together in a common goal to help prevent destructive decisions. The students who follow the SADD lifestyle are putting empowerment into action.

Statistics show more than five million high school students binge drink more than once a month and those who begin drinking before the age of 15 are at a high risk to become alcoholics.

As a parent, you must face the fact that your child may drink at one of these events. It seems to them that “everyone” is doing it, and “it is just a little bit”, but since everyone has a different tolerance level, some kids get sick and others die from alcohol abuse.