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HEADLINES
An annual survey from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York reported that parents are clueless when it comes to their teenagers’ behavior, which contributes to their drug and alcohol abuse, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
According to the survey:
— It is easier for teenagers to obtain prescription drugs than beer;
— Forty-two percent of teenagers said they can buy marijuana in one day or less;
— One-quarter of teenagers said they know a parent of a classmate or a friend who uses marijuana;
— Of the teenagers surveyed who do drink, almost 30 percent said their drink of choice was hard liquor mixed with soda or something sweet and 16 percent said they preferred beer;
The Merrimack Police Department will be stepping up enforcement of underage drinking laws during the next several months.
The department received an $11,000 grant from state’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which funds enforcement, deterrence and education of underage drinking, according to police.
Austin may be the hardest-drinking city in America.
In 2006, Forbes.com declared Austin the fifth hardest-drinking city in the U.S., but more recent statistics suggest that Austin has surpassed itself. The Web site used information compiled from various governmental and private agencies to determine that Austin is 2008's hardest-drinking city.
Last month, SayCampusLife published an article titled, “Survey Reveals 157 Student Deaths From Drinking,” where we pointed out that students are dying as a result of playing drinking games which may result in alcoholic poisoning. What the article didn't mention is that the problem of alcohol abuse is much deeper than that, resulting in as many as 1700 student deaths each year.
The Consequences Of Excessive Drinking
Just in time for the start of the new academic year, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is urging parents to have a conversation with their adult children before they head off to school. Specifically, the NIAAA wants parents to discuss with them the consequences of excessive drinking which includes vandalism, violence, sexual aggression, and even death.
The WV Alcohol Beverage Control Administration hosted a special meeting between local bar owners and law enforcement officials Thursday at the Eagle Distribution Center.
The two groups discussed various ways to deal with underage drinking in Huntington.
The acting surgeon general of the United States is scheduled to discuss collegiate alcohol abuse during a visit to Montana State University next Wednesday.
Rear Adm. Steven Galson will give a short speech and take questions from the audience, beginning at 9 a.m.
He is then scheduled to meet with alcohol prevention staff, university administrators, student leaders, law enforcement officers and community leaders. The discussion will cover ways to implement strategies for dealing with collegiate and underage drinking.
A national campaign to reduce underage drinking is helping the nation understand that serving alcohol to teens is unsafe, illegal and irresponsible. “We Don’t Serve Teens” focuses on the “social sources’— parents of teens, older siblings, and friends — from whom most teens who drink get their alcohol.
To teens the word “summer” means freedom. School is out and teens have more time with friends, often with reduced adult supervision. Unfortunately, summer is the time when teens are at high risk to start drinking. It also is a time when teen drunk-driving deaths are at their highest.
We have such a great place to live. We have great schools, good jobs and beautiful lakes and natural resources to enjoy. There's another distinction, though, we shouldn't be so proud of: our cultural acceptance of the overconsumption of alcohol. We drink just to get drunk.
As a result, we see so much human misery and face enormous public safety, health and economic costs because of this misuse of alcohol.
Q: Do kids who start drinking at an early age increase their chances of developing alcohol problems later in life?
A: Research has shown that the early use of alcohol does increase the chances of developing a problem with alcohol as an adult. In a large, well-designed study, it was found that almost half of people who began drinking before age 14 were dependent upon alcohol at some point in their lives, compared to 9 percent of those who began drinking after age 20. Past year alcohol dependence among those who started drinking before age 14 was 13 percent, compared to 2 percent for those who started drinking after age 20.
INFORMATION
For more information about the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, please visit its website by clicking on the interactive logo at the top of this page, or contact Chris Stoughton at cstoughton@pire.org.
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Please Help Us Prevent Underage Drinking - Click Here
The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness (IIAA), a project of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), is preparing to begin a targeted communications campaign to help maintain several critical federally funded alcohol prevention programs. In order to do this, we need your help.
As we target specific lawmakers, we will ask you to assist with this vitally important effort by urging your elected officials to support initiatives that will prevent underage drinking. So that this campaign may be carried out as efficiently as possible, please provide your full mailing address, including zip code by clicking here. This will allow us to accurately identify your members of Congress.
NOTE: PIRE will NOT provide any contact information to any other organization, or use it for any purpose other than that outlined above
Thank you for your continued support as we fight to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth.
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