Underage drinking poses dangers, residents reminded

The Placer County Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse Prevention Program is reminding parents, teens and young adults to remain diligent against underage drinking and binge alcohol consumption, especially during the holidays. Students, both high school and college, are out for annual holiday breaks. And while the holidays bring many festive occasions, they can also bring alcohol, and teens may find themselves at risk to start drinking or in situations where underage drinking is taking place.

Alcohol misuse and binge drinking by teens is a national problem with no single solution. Yet communities and families can take powerful actions to lessen its tragic impacts. Citizens should report stores that sell alcohol to underage buyers. Parents can help teens navigate the mixed messages they receive about alcohol through thoughtful discussions and listening to teen concerns. Parents should set clear expectations and take underage drinking seriously. Young adults should be reminded of their responsibility as role models to teens as well as being made aware of the personal and legal risks they take if they provide alcohol to underage siblings and high school friends.

The Placer “Parents Who Host Lose The Most” campaign, a partnership of health, law enforcement, school, businesses, and community organizations, has been raising parental awareness of the multifaceted dangers of underage drinking. Most parents are unaware of the rates of underage drinking, and that alcohol affects a teen’s developing brain much differently than an adult brain, and that underage drinking seriously increases the risks of alcoholism later in life. Additionally, many parents are unaware of the legal consequences of providing alcohol to minors or allowing teen alcohol consumption to take place in their homes. Some of the key points of the campaign include:

• Among those who start drinking alcohol before age 15, over 40 percent will become alcohol-dependent at some time in their lives, compared with 7 percent of those who wait until age 21;
• Parents are often out of touch with their child’s alcohol use. Alcohol use starts earlier than most parents expect – average age is 13. Only 31 percent of parents of 15-16 year olds believe their child had a drink in the past year, compared to the 60 percent of teens in that age group who reported drinking;
• Drunk driving isn’t the only risk. Underage gatherings with alcohol are associated with property damage, violence, drug use, accidents, indiscreet sex, sexual assault, and alcohol poisoning; and
• It is against the law to provide alcohol to teens. Adult providers can be prosecuted. Also, parents do not want other adults allowing their child to drink.

Many other counties have inquired about Placer’s innovative Responsible Parent Host Pledge. The pledge was created as a tool to help families discuss and monitor underage drinking. The Responsible Host Pledge is a parental commitment to not allow underage drug or alcohol use in their home and to actively chaperone youth gatherings at their residence. Pledges are turned into schools, County Health and Human Services, or the local law enforcement. Participating homes have phone numbers and address entered into a countywide searchable database. Parents are able to access the database to see if a residence has been listed as a Responsible Host home. Parents are encouraged to always call the hosting parent(s) to verify the occasion, party location, and the presence of adult supervision.

Since the “Parents Who Host Lose the Most” program’s kickoff last spring, the messages about parental awareness of teen alcohol use has been repeated in many forums. Those forums include:

• PWH banners hanging at high school home football games;
• School Resource Officers talking with high school health classes about the law and parental 1iability they provide alcohol to minors;
• On-going promotion through Town Hall Forums;
• Information about the program being included with report cards and in class schedules;
• Addressing parents at many school and non-school functions;
• Parent Project facilitators present information about the program to parent groups; and
• Regular mention in school newsletters and school and law enforcement websites.

source: Roseville California News

More Treatment & Detox Articles

How Inpatient Alcohol Treatment Centers Treat Alcoholism

In 2006, excess alcohol use accounted for an estimated 80,000 deaths making alcoholism the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For each of these deaths, researchers estimate an average of 30 years of potential life lost per death due to excess alcohol….

Drug addiction- an overview

Many a times in our lives, we do face problems. These problems are bound to break us emotionally as well as psychologically. Therefore, as a way out, one make take the help of certain chemical substances like the drugs that relieves him of all tensions or stress temporarily. This may lead him to getting addicted,….

1 in 8 combat troops needs alcohol counseling

One in eight troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 to 2008 were referred for counseling for alcohol problems after their post-deployment health assessments, according to data from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. Service members complete their initial health assessments within 30 days of returning home. The authors of the study, published in….

The Importance of Exercise During Drug Treatment

You may not think that exercise is very important when you are in drug treatment. Maybe you think you have bigger and better battles to fight or you can’t see how exercise would really help right now, but it does! Exercise during drug treatment is a vital part of the rehabilitation process that not only….

An Overview of Anorexia Treatments

The Dangers of Anorexia Anorexia is an eating disorder that can result in a person losing vital nutrients they need for good health, and in a person losing bone mass. People who suffer from anorexia commonly have a distorted body image of their self, and frequently will not consume a healthy amount of food, if….