Point-of-View

It is an understatement to say that the consumption of alcohol is a serious problem for America's young people. While 21 is the legal drinking age across the country, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (NCASA) reports that persons under 21 drink 25 percent of the alcohol consumed in the U.S.

More than five million high school students (31.5 percent) report binge drinking at least once a month, prompting the center to warn that America has an "epidemic of underage drinking that germinates in elementary and middle schools with children 9 to 13-years old and erupts on college campuses." A 2000 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse discovered that approximately 8 percent of eighth graders, 24 percent of tenth graders, and 32 percent of twelfth graders had been drunk during the last month. And approximately two-thirds of teenagers who drink report they are able to buy their own alcoholic beverages, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The personal and societal price for this alcohol use is high:

Teen drinkers are seven times likelier to engage in premarital sex, and alcohol use is estimated to be a factor in up to two-thirds of sexual assault and "date rape" cases among teens and college students.

NCASA reports the annual cost of youth alcohol use-including traffic accidents, violent crimes, suicide attempts, alcohol poisoning, and drowning-is more than $53 billion.

Adult alcoholism most often has its roots in teenage drinking. People who begin drinking before age fifteen are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin at twenty-one, reports the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The good news: Individuals who do not drink before age 21 are almost certain never to drink alcohol. Over 83 percent of adults who drink had their first drink of alcohol before age 21. Teens whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs, including alcohol, are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than the parents who don't talk to their teens about drugs. Most students, 75 percent, say their parents never broached the subject.

Study after study prove that when parents share their opinions about drugs-in word and deed- a majority of teenagers listen. "Parent power is the most underutilized tool in helping teens steer clear of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs," a NCASA press release says.

The alcohol industry appears determined to reach children whether their parents do or don't, and their latest lure is "alcopops"-fruit-flavored malt beverages that pack an alcoholic punch (6.9 percent alcohol) and bear innocent names such as Mike's Hard Lemonade, Hooper's Hooch Lemon Brew, Bacardi Silver, and Coors' Zima. "It doesn't taste like alcohol, it just tastes like a normal drink," said one teen.

"Without underage drinkers, the alcohol industry, and the beer industry in particular, would suffer severe economic declines and dramatic loss of profits," said Joseph Califano, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and chairman of the National Center on Addiction. His assertion prompts one to seriously consider the sincerity of the alcohol industries' claim that "alcopops" are not being offered as part of an elaborate marketing plan to woo new drinkers to the party. Parents beware.

For more information, please go to the ERLC Web site at: www.Faith&Family.com.