Guest View – The opinion of Marty Richman

Youth alcohol abuse is a ‘disaster’
The 17 July 2009 Weekend Pinnacle had an article about a new
program designed to curb teen drinking, but there are so many
problems and programs these days we just tend to file all them
away.
However, the serious long-term effects of alcohol use by
teens
– especially binge and daily drinking – cannot be overstated;
this is a disaster.
Youth alcohol abuse is a ‘disaster’

The 17 July 2009 Weekend Pinnacle had an article about a new program designed to curb teen drinking, but there are so many problems and programs these days we just tend to file all them away.

However, the serious long-term effects of alcohol use by teens – especially binge and daily drinking – cannot be overstated; this is a disaster.

According to the Healthy Kids survey, 60 percent of the students in San Benito County alternative schools, and more than 20 percent of the students in SBC traditional and average California schools, have been binge drinking during the last month. At least 11 percent of the students in SBC alternative schools drank alcohol nearly every day. 

Recent MRI studies have shown that binge drinking by teens may do serious damage to the brain’s sensitive “white matter” – white matter relays information between brain cells. There have been other studies showing reductions in thinking and memory in adolescents who had histories of heavy drinking because their brains are still developing.  

It may be fun to be ‘stupid drunk’ when you’re 16, but it’s no fun just being plain stupid when you’re sober and in your 40s. Scramble enough of your white brain matter and that’s how you’ll end up. 

If you’re a parent who supplies alcohol to your kids thinking it’s harmless, remember, you may have that kid living at home forever because they can’t find or keep a job. Becoming a member of the “Caregiver and Family Earner Forever Club” is not something to desire.

Then again, your drinking teen may not live that long. A 2009 University of Wisconsin study concluded college students who frequently drink to extremes and are inclined to be thrill-seekers are more likely to be physically injured as a result of their alcohol use.

Students who binged heavily on alcohol at least four days a month were five times more likely to be physically hurt than their peers. A drinking pattern of frequent extreme intoxication escalates injury rates rapidly. Alcohol-related injuries resulted in the deaths of more than 1,700 college students in 2001.

The study also found that approximately 2.8 million U.S. college students drove under the influence of alcohol in the past 12 months, and 600,000 were hit or assaulted by a student who was under the influence of alcohol.

In a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of 9th through 12th grade students, 29.1 percent had ridden one or more times in a vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking alcohol and 10.5 percent had driven a vehicle one or more times when they had been drinking alcohol during the previous30 days

Everyone knows that alcohol is the lubricant that suppresses inhibitions. A bit of alcohol may make you a little friendlier, but too much can make you belligerent and violent and your common sense goes out the window. The relationship between drunkenness and violence is well established.    

The vast majority of the alcohol consumed by teens comes from legal sources. There are few home stills, it’s much easier to get a ‘friend’ to buy you some alcohol, or to steal it, or pay someone to buy it for you.

Knowingly or unknowingly, parents are often the source. Some parents believe they can safely allow their teens to drink at home; it does not work. 

Too many adults do not have the good sense required to put down that last glass of beer; even fewer teens do.

Not every teen drinker will end up with life-long alcohol problems, but those who binge drink or drink every day are at great risk for irreversible damage.

Many teen drinkers, even casual drinkers, won’t live long enough to worry about it; alcohol related violence or accidents will kill them long before their time.