This ain’t your usual “Mythbusters” – that hit television series in which a team of scientific whizzes attempt to recreate situations from lore, news stories and famous movie scenes to see whether they are plausible or impossible.

No, this is a different Mythbusters – one in which police officers and a substance abuse counselor will tackle myths about the use of alcohol and other drugs.

“I think it’s important to give parents, and especially teens, the opportunity to share what they believe and what they’ve heard,” said Joan Webb Scornaienchi, the executive director of HC DrugFree, a Columbia-based nonprofit dedicated to keeping youth free of drugs, including alcohol.

HC DrugFree and the Centennial High School Parent Teacher Student are hosting the Jan. 24 program.

“Sometimes it’s good for people to say what they believe and why that might be true. Especially kids,” Scornaienchi said. “They’re going to think they have an answer. We can hear them out and do that respectfully. Maybe part of what they’re saying is true. Let’s take out that part and clarify whatever else is misleading.”

She rattled off several examples of such myths:

• ‘I can’t really get into serious trouble if I drink so long as I don’t drive.’
•  ‘Beer or wine are safer than liquor.’ 
• ‘I can sober up quickly by taking a shower or drinking coffee.’ 
• ‘It’s better for kids to start drinking young so they can learn how to handle it.’

“There are people on both sides of these issues,” Scornaienchi said. “There will be people there who say that as long as you don’t drink or drive, drinking is okay. But that’s not HC DrugFree’s stand as long as you’re talking youth.

“And at most of our programs, we have someone that will argue that it is better for them to teach their child to drink at home so that they’re prepared, especially before they go off to college.”

That would tie into a discussion about whether the legal drinking age should lowered to 18. The program will shift into such a discussion if time permits.

Scornaienchi cites several reasons she believes the legal drinking age should remain at 21:

 “Some researchers consider the drinking age of 21 to be one of the most successful public safety and public health policies in United States history,” she said. “Since the minimum drinking age was changed in the 1980s, deaths from drinking and driving accidents have decreased by thousands. European countries with lower drinking ages have the same alcohol problems as the United States.”

Also: “New evidence says that the brain continues to develop through age 25,” she said. “The use of alcohol and other drugs can alter normal development of the brain. Drinking under the age of 21 places you at a higher risk of depression, suicide and sexual assaults.

“And then drinkers who start before the age of 17 are twice as likely to develop alcohol dependence. Drinkers who start before the age of 15 are four times as likely.”

Mythbusters will begin at 7 p.m. Monday at Centennial High School, 4300 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City. It is free and open to the public.