Community Action for Substance Free Youth, the local prevention coalition for Lyme and Old Lyme, has started a new media campaign to reduce underage drinking.

As part of the campaign, Shoreline Sanitation trucks will carry the image of hands holding red cups and the message: “Don’t be a party to underage drinking. It’s against the law.”

This message also will be on posters in the community, on social media, at community events and on a Hall’s Road banner before Thanksgiving, a time when underage drinking tends to increase, according to a news release.

Karen Fischer, CASFY’s prevention coordinator, said in the release that while underage drinking has decreased nationally and in Lyme-Old Lyme among school-age youth, it remains "our Number One youth drug problem."

“CASFY members chose our new campaign with the objective of informing underage drinkers and their families about the legal and other risks they take by breaking alcohol-related laws,” she added.

A quiz on alcohol laws also is available on the website of the Lymes' Youth Services Bureau at www.lysb.org.

“Few teens and underage young adults realize that breaking underage drinking laws can place their families and themselves in legal and financial jeopardy,” Resident Trooper Gary Inglis said in a statement. “Even an infraction for underage possession of alcohol is not just a ticket. The underage youth who received the ticket is subject to suspension of a driver’s license for 30-60 days, depending on where the infraction occurred, in addition to a fine. Plus the family’s car insurance will likely significantly increase or could even be cancelled.”

Ellen Maus, a school nurse at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, reminded adults to secure alcohol and prescription medications to reduce access and prevent any legal or health problems that could occur in their own homes.

Gary Yuknat of Shoreline Sanitation donated the use of his trucks for displaying CASFY’s campaign graphics.

Local businesses and others wishing to participate in the campaign can contact Karen Fischer at (860) 434-7208 or fischerk@childandfamilyagency.org.

A federal grant, through the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, is funding the campaign.

More information is available at lysb.org or by calling (860) 434-7208.