Putting a cap on underage drinking

A youngter is likely to take his or her first drink by the age of 12. Nineteen percent of eighth graders are likely to have been drunk in the last month. And 61 percent of high school students who have used alcohol have binged, meaning they've had five or more drinks in one sitting. There are many, many more numbers you can draw from studies from respected organizations such as the American Medical Association, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Sussex County (N.J.) Coalition for Healthy and Safe Families on young people and alcohol use. And just as often, the people whose job it is to work with the aftermath of teen drinking will tell you that parents play the critical role in helping their children. "If you can get your kid to 21," said Sussex Coalition's director Becky Carlson, "there is a much better chance they won't have a problem." Getting to 21, though, is increasingly difficult. The American Medical Association states that the age of alcohol use has decreased in the last 35 years, with the first drink now typically beginning at the age of 12. One reason for that, Carlson said, is that alcohol is being marketed to younger kids now. In the last five or 10 years, she said, there has been the emergence of things like the "alco pop," which is sweetened malt liquor that "has the same kick as beer." Marketed in containers designed to appeal to a younger crowd, there's also alcohol in what looks just like a test tube from science class, fruity frozen alcoholic drinks, a "jello shot," and ice teas and lemonade mixed with alcohol. "These are even more dangerous because they taste great," Carlson said. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2004 almost 38 percent of eighth graders and 59 percent of 10th graders reported using flavored alcoholic beverages at least once. That same report states that approximately 19 percent of 8th graders, 35 percent of 10th graders and 48 percent of 12th graders report having consumed alcohol during the past month. And a reminder that this all can begin quite early is the study finding that almost 20 percent of 8th graders and 42 percent of 10th graders have been drunk at least once. Adolescents who abuse alcohol have been found to remember 10 percent less of what they learn than those who don't drink. And then there's binging. "Man," said Carlson, "the number of kids doing Hit 21 (drinking 21 shots of liquor when turning 21) ..." and then continuing the practice for subsequent birthdays. Carlson tells the story of a young man from North Dakota who died of alcohol poisoning. His parents, she said, had to identify him at the morgue with a "24 marked on his forehead." Carlson said 61 percent of high school kids who have alcohol experience have binged and 71 percent of college students. "They're not drinking socially, so they don't know how to control it." Patricia De Coste, clinical director for prevention counseling at the Sussex County Coalition, said alcohol shouldn't be permitted - period. "Drinking is not a rite of passage," she said. Milestones shouldn't be celebrated with booze, De Coste added, and parents shouldn't fall prey to misconceptions such as "it's no big deal, we did it when we were kids, they're too young to become alcoholics." Teens are addicted much faster, claim substance abuse professionals, because their body chemistry is different. According to the Sussex County Coalition, people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin at age 21. Stiffening underage drinking laws isn't without critics. Dr. Ruth Engs, professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University at Bloomington, said in a 2005 interview that she proposes the age be lowered to 18 or 19, with consumption taking place "in socially controlled environment such as restaurants and official school and university functions." "Prohibition tended to destroy moderation and instead promoted great excess and abusive drinking," Engs said. "People tended to gulp alcohol in large quantities on those occasions when they could obtain it. What we currently have is age-specific prohibition and young people are forced to create their own ‘speakeasies' in dorm rooms and other secret locations where they, too, must gulp their alcohol in the absence of moderating social control." Nancy Rothstein, assistant director at the Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Council of Orange County (N.Y.) said certain skills have to be instilled in children, especially when coming from homes with existing alcohol problems. These include nurturing individual characteristics in children, providing opportunities for involvement in family, school and community, teaching emotional and behavioral skills and providing recognition and feedback. Rothstein speaks of a "myth of invincibility" with young people and a "myth of inevitability" with their parents, acknowledging a report in the publication, Teens Today, that indicated "more than half of parents believe that drinking is part of growing up," and citing data showing, "a disturbing trend in adult procurement of alcohol for teens." With 35 years of counseling and middle school teaching experience, Patricia De Coste offered this final thought: "Parents are still responding - it's alcohol, not drugs. They'll take keys away and feel it's safe…. Control is an illusion."