Jamie was a junior at a large city high school.  One afternoon, the health teacher, Miss Schilling, decided to talk about the legal, employment, relationship, financial, and health issues that are linked to hazardous and abusive drinking in general and associated with underage drinking and teenage alcohol abuse in particular.

Jamie listened intently for around ten minutes, and then got very aggravated.  Finally, she raised her hand and asked the following question.  “Miss Schilling, why do we need to learn about alcohol abuse and alcoholism and the negative effects of underage drinking?  Nearly everyone in this room is already drinking so why make an effort to tell us all of this negative stuff?”

Miss Schilling told Jamie that because most of the students in her class will drink, they need to know up front the about the hazards and the dangers of their actions so that they can avoid the adverse consequences of underage drinking.

Why haven’t increased alcohol abuse prevention and educational efforts substantially reduced adolescent alcohol abuse in our society?  Take a few moments to think about underage drinking and teenage alcohol abuse in our society.

Adolescents realize that many, if not most, adults drink on a fairly regular basis.  Drive through any relatively large U.S. city and make a note of the number of convenient stores, nightclubs, grocery stores, state stores, and bars where adults can buy as much alcohol as they desire.

When teenagers go to sporting events, they obviously observe that many adults are drinking.  In a word, it must appear to teenagers that drinking is something that adults do and that if they (the adolescents) want to “grow up,” drinking is something they should be doing too.

Various research studies reveal evidence that there could be as many as four million alcoholics in the U.S. who are less than 18 years old. For those of you who are paying attention, the “oldest” adolescents in this group are at three years younger than the legal drinking age of 21.

Take a moment to think about this: there may be 4 million U.S. youth who involve themselves in underage alcohol addiction. Obviously, the term “teenage alcoholism” does not apply to everyone in this “group” because some of the alcohol-addicted children are not even teenagers!

Statistics and facts like these should serve as a wake-up call for all political leaders, parents, social service administrators, educators, and community leaders in this country. With much of the nightly news centered on Obama’s health initiative, terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, possible increasing gas and oil prices, and the unstable economy, the topic of underage alcoholics seems to have been placed on the last page in the newspaper or on the back burner by the media. Teenage and pre-teen drug addiction and alcoholism are two critical problems that need to be addressed immediately by local and national political leaders, parents, school administrators, and social service agencies.

Research shows that U.S. girls are beginning to drink at younger ages.  In the 1960s, 7% of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 used alcohol.  By the early 1990’s, 31% of  the females between the ages of 10 and 14 used alcohol.

When I read statistics like this my first thoughts are what in the world are girls who are 14 and younger doing drinking?  Who is paying for their drinks?  How are they getting their alcohol?  Where are their parents?  Why aren’t these young females getting help at school or in their communities?

If these underage drinking statistics are anywhere close to being accurate, what are our politicians, community leaders, parents, and school administrators doing about this?  Are these young girls getting alcohol treatment?

Besides the fact that it is illegal, underage drinking is dangerous to both the individual and to society.  For instance, adolescent drinking is linked to an increased probability for developing alcohol abuse or alcohol addiction later in life.

Furthermore, teens and pre-teens are vulnerable to alcohol-induced brain damage, a condition that can lead to poor work or school performance as well as to dysfunctional life skills.  Not only this, but the rate of alcohol-related traffic accidents and fatalities is substantially greater for drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 than it is for drivers who are 21 and older.

I have heard that there are some underage drinkers in the United States as well as in other developed nations who have not reached their 10th birthday who are not only abusing alcohol but who are also alcohol dependent.  This is absolutely appalling.  Are these children living the streets?  If not, where are their parents?  Who is paying for their alcohol?  Who is supplying their alcohol?  If these children go to school, how do they avoid detection by teachers, counselors, or other students?

According to a Third National Health and Nutrition Survey report that was undertaken in 2002, pre-teen and teenage females between the ages of twelve and sixteen years old who currently drink alcohol are four times more likely to experience depression than non-drinking females who are the same age.  Even though the teenage alcohol abuse and underage drinking research findings reveal that adolescents commonly drink for the “buzz” that alcohol brings without thinking about the risks involved in drinking, the above findings need to be brought to the attention of all teen and pre-teen females (and males) in our school system.

In a recent alcohol abuse and alcoholism study, 76 percent of 7th through 12th grade teachers articulated that underage student drinking was a serious or somewhat serious problem in the U.S. Question.  What galaxy are the other 24% of these teachers from?  How is it possible for ANY junior high or high school teacher to claim that underage drinking is not a critical problem in the U.S.?  Are these teachers living under a rock or are they simply out-of-touch with reality?  Have these teachers ever heard about pre-teen and teen alcohol abuse and alcoholism?

The alcohol abuse research findings have shown that for a substantial number of teens and pre-teens, their passion for thrill seeking may be one of the more relevant reasons why they begin drinking alcoholic beverages.  The fact that most teenagers act impulsively and fail to comprehend that their actions have real consequences may be related to the developmental, emotional, and physiological changes they experience as they mature into young adulthood.

The bottom line: regardless of what the causes or the reasons, numerous teenagers and some pre-teens act impulsively and desire thrill-seeking experiences and both of these personality characteristics can be viewed as catalysts to alcohol consumption and alcohol experimentation.  Obviously, this information is relevant when discussing underage drinking and teenage alcohol abuse.

According to the underage drinking and the teenage alcohol abuse research literature, more than 3 million teenagers in the United States between the ages of 14 to 17 are problem drinkers.

This statistic immediately leads to a number of questions.  First, what in the world are teenagers, especially children as young as 13 or 14, doing drinking alcohol?  Second, what are the parents of these teenagers doing about the drinking behavior of their sons and daughters?  And third, what are the schools doing about their teenage students who are alcohol abusers?

It is clear from the above research findings that extensive and relevant changes need to be made to the current drug and alcohol abuse educational and preventative programs in this country.  It is also obvious that these updated and upgraded drug and alcohol preventions programs need to be made available to all of the students in our country.

Why is underage drinking such a big problem?  The alcohol abuse and alcoholism research literature reveals that whatever it is that leads teenagers and pre-teens to start drinking, once they begin they face many different health risks.

Most of the serious health difficulties and problems associated with excessive and abusive drinking do not happen as often to teens and pre-teens as they do to adults.  In spite of this fact, however, youth who drink in an abusive and excessive manner increases the probability that they will eventually face a number of potential health issues and medical problems such as liver damage and short and long-term thinking and memory deterioration.

In addition to being illegal, underage drinking presents a high risk to both society and to the person.  For instance, the rate of alcohol–related traffic accidents is substantially greater for drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 than for drivers who are 21 and older. Furthermore, teenagers are vulnerable to alcohol–related brain damage, a medical condition that could lead to poor performance at work or at school.  Finally, adolescent drinking is correlated with an increased probability of developing alcohol abuse and/or alcoholism later in life.

Underage drinking is a significant national problem with estimates suggesting that by the 8th grade one-fourth of all U.S. students have consumed alcohol to the point of intoxication.  To the extent that this is even remotely accurate, our alcohol prevention and educational programs probably need to be significantly revamped and updated so that they become more relevant to today’s youth.

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism research shows that children who are drinking alcohol by the 7th grade are more likely to manifest delinquent behavior in junior high and in high school, to engage in substance abuse, and academic problems, and to exhibit academic problems.  What is more, youth who drink while they are pre-teens or in their early teens are more likely to engage in substance abuse, get involved in violent and criminal behavior, and manifest employment problems when they become young adults as compared with young adults who did not drink alcohol when they were pre-teens or teenagers.

Question.  How in the world are kids able to drink alcohol before they reach the 7th grade?  Where are the parents of these children?  Why aren’t some of these children “caught” by the school system?