WHEREAS, alcohol related issues – including underage drinking, social hosting, binge drinking, impaired driving, and alcohol use disorder – pose significant health challenges to Maine communities and can negatively affect the lives of all Maine people; and

WHEREAS, early prevention and delay of first use is critical to increasing the average age of onset, which reduces the likelihood of alcohol misuse issues later in life; and

WHEREAS, alcohol misuse is preventable and Maine people should be aware of available prevention and treatment resources and know recovery and risk reduction is possible; and

WHEREAS, all youth and adults at risk for alcohol misuse, in need of treatment, or in recovery deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity; and

WHEREAS, communities and organizations across Maine are joining together to declare their support for healthy lifestyles free of alcohol misuse, including members from the law enforcement, health, business, government and education sectors; and

WHEREAS, recognizing Alcohol Awareness Month provides all Maine people an opportunity to become more aware of the negative impacts of the misuse of alcohol and to demonstrate their commitment to living a lifestyle free from the influence of alcohol misuse;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the state of Maine, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as

Alcohol Awareness Month

in Maine, and I thank the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, its nine subordinate Public Health Districts, the Maine National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, and the many community-based organizations and entities that help recognize and honor this month through their outreach efforts.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this twenty fourth day of March Two Thousand Twenty-Six