The students, members of the school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions club, were taking part in an underage drinking awareness campaign led by Saranac Lake Central School District Prevention Specialist Emily Trudell ahead of the high school prom in Lake Placid that night, letting people know about the harms of — and the legal repercussions of — buying alcohol for minors.

“Sometimes people don’t always think about how much it does affect the teenage brain,” Trudell said.

The stickers, from the Franklin County Underage Drinking Prevention Task Force, read “KNOW THE LAW: It’s illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under 21. Fines up to $2,500 or 1 year in jail.”

Trudell did this “Project Sticker Shock” campaign with Tupper Lake students for two years when she worked in that district previously. This year, at Saranac Lake, she got permission from the school and parents, as well as the Grand Union grocery store and Stewart’s Shops convenience store in Saranac Lake.

From left, students Tommy Gaylord, Laine Mason, Sherry Smith, Saranac Lake school prevention specialist Emily Trudell and Peter Gaylord participate in “Project Sticker Shock” — an effort by the Students Against Destructive Decisions club — to place stickers with information on the crime of buying alcohol for minors on cases of beer inside Grand Union on Saturday ahead of the high school prom on Saturday. (Provided photo — Katie Gaylord)

She was grateful Grand Union and Stewart’s allowed them to come in, adding that both store managers were eager to participate. The students wrapped up their work with ice cream at Stewart’s. She hopes to get more businesses involved next year.

Trudell said buying alcohol for minors is likely less common than it used to be due to increased education around the harms it causes.

According to a 2021 study by University of North Carolina, Johns Hopkins University and Boston University the percentage of the alcoholic beverage market made up by underage youths fell from 11.73% in 2011 to 8.6% in 2016. Still, the study estimated underage drinkers consumed $17.5 billion in alcoholic drinks sold in 2016.

Trudell said people’s brains don’t fully develop until around 25 years old, and unfortunately, the decision-making part — the prefrontal cortex — is the last part to fully develop.

Trudell said heavy drinking as a teenager leads to a higher risk of addiction later in life and makes that addiction harder to stop, too.

From left, Saranac Lake school prevention specialist Emily Trudell and students Sherry Smith, Laine Mason and Peter Gaylord participate in “Project Sticker Shock” by placing stickers with information on the crime of buying alcohol for minors on cases of beer inside Grand Union on Saturday ahead of the high school prom on Saturday. (Provided photo — Katie Gaylord)

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “people who start drinking before the age of 15 are at a higher risk for developing alcohol use disorder later in life.”

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that adults who began drinking before 15 are 3.5 times more likely to have an alcohol addiction than those who started after the legal age.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive underage drinking is responsible for about 4,000 deaths each year.