LAWRENCE — Kids who drink before age 15 are four times as likely to become alcoholics than those who start drinking at the legal age of 21.

And 40 percent of Massachusetts high school students surveyed report using alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The Lawrence/Methuen Community Coalition (L/MCC) kicked off a new program Saturday at the Lawrence Public Library to alert teens of the dangers of alcohol abuse. The initiative is funded by a $80,000 grant (to the City of Lawrence) that will allow them to build upon the Families & Youth Initiative, designed in part to help the city’s at-risk children. (GLCAC, Inc. is the administrative and fiscal agent for L/MCC.)