Montana is doing a commendable job chipping away at underage drinking, the acting U.S. surgeon general told state officials Tuesday, yet Montana stubbornly ranks near the top nationally in teenage alcohol use.

"The biggest misconception is (that) underage drinking is a rite of passage," said Rear Admiral Steven Galson, after meeting with the heads of several state agencies working to keep alcoholic drinks out of the hands of people under 21.

"You can be a very happy teenager" and not drink, he said.

Galson said he came to Montana for a three-day tour to "energize" the state's existing efforts to curb underage drinking. He said he's been working with a group of current and former first ladies -- including Nancy Schweitzer -- and was impressed with the state's anti-drinking efforts.

About 80 percent of Montana high school sophomores have consumed alcohol, according to recent state information. Montana had the fourth-highest rate of underage alcohol use in the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted by the federal government.

Some 38 percent of Montana youth surveyed at that time reported using alcohol in the previous 30 days, joining a small group of mostly northern, rural states with high rates. Utah had the lowest rate with just over 18 percent of underage citizens reporting alcohol use in the last month.

Galson last year released "A Call to Action" to guide states on how to reduce the widespread incidence of underage drinking. Montana is using that guide, along with other resources, in its existing efforts.

The heads of many state agencies, including highways, public health, revenue and others, are on a council aimed at cracking down on underage drinking. Their efforts include:

- Forbidding the sale of so-called "pocket shots." These are plastic, pocket-sized, sealed shot glasses of hard alcohol. The Montana Department of Revenue has authority over the advertisement and packaging of alcohol sold in the state. Revenue Director Dan Bucks told Galson the state had decided pocket-shots cannot be sold here because of the high probability they would wind up in the hands and pockets of underage drinkers.

- Launching an ad campaign by the Montana Transportation Department featuring real victims of alcohol-related crashes talking about their experiences. Highway Director Jim Lynch said his agency is also working with several Montana Indian reservations to help them design their own anti-alcohol abuse programs.

- Offering state training to alcohol servers, including waiters, waitresses and bartenders, on effectively weeding out under-age buyers of alcohol. This program is also a project of the Montana Department of Revenue.

Galson and Joan Miles, director of the Department of Public Health and Human Services, both said the most important part of any anti-alcohol abuse campaign is education, and that usually begins at home.

Galson said parents can show their kids responsible alcohol use. It's important, he said, to stress that one flip decision as a young teen can have lasting effects in a person's life. He said 5,000 American teenagers die every year in alcohol-related accidents and many more sustain alcohol-related injuries.

His visit came just one day after the presidents of several colleges said the United States should consider lowering the drinking age from 21, to help teach young people how to drink responsibly.

Galson said the experience of other nations suggests a lowered drinking age has no bearing on eliminating alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking. England, for example, has a lower drinking age and a higher rate of binge drinking than in the United States, he said.

Given such high national rates of underage drinking, Galson said his goal is not to try to eliminate all such drinking, but to reduce it. "We want to send the message that it's not worth the risk," he said.