As of July 1, a juvenile who commits a second offense of underage possession of alcohol can lose his or her driver's license for up to one year. Previously, the juvenile could only lose his or her license for up to six months.

SAFE held a summit on the public health, public safety and economic implications of substance abuse on June 29 at St. Francis Medical Center. The summit, an invitation-only event, featured Jack Claypoole, associate deputy director of the White House Executive Office of National Drug Control Policy and administrator of the Drug Free Communities grant program.Over 80 leaders from Chesterfield County attended the summit.

When a teen graduates from high school and heads off to college, sometimes parents think their job is complete. But conversations about alcohol need to continue. Keep enforcing rules about drinking and consequences. Prepare your child for the choices they will face around underage drinking in college. Learn how to approach that conversation. Click here.

On May 24, SAFE held its kickoff event for Parent Pods at the Oasis Sports Park. Parent pods are designed to foster agreement among parents around values relating to underage drinking and other substance use. They utilize parents reaching out to parents to support each other in building healtheir, safer families, neighborhoods and communities. Parents from nine middle schools and a home school association attended the event. 

Over 100 persons brought their expired and unused medications to the Medication Cleanout event on Saturday April 17. The medications collected filled nearly three 50-gallon containers.

Did you miss the medication cleanout? SAFE will sponsor another cleanout in November. In the meantime, learn how to dispose of leftover medications on your own.