Alcohol: Maine’s No. 1 youth drug problem

At this time every year, teens are celebrating at their proms, at graduations or at summer parties. Often we think that alcohol is a normal part of the fun.

It shouldn’t be.

Alcohol is Maine’s No. 1 youth drug problem. It is linked to the top three causes of death among our youth. It is a common element in sexual assault, suicide, homicide and all kinds of accidents. Limiting minors’ access to alcohol is essential in solving the underage drinking problem, but in a culture that too often encourages, rather than discourages, underage drinking, this isn’t an easy task.

Results from the 2004 Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use Survey (MYDAUS), a survey administered to more than 75,000 Maine students, indicate that the majority of high school seniors have had alcohol and half of them drink regularly. Unfortunately, when they drink they drink to get drunk. The MYDAUS indicates that nearly 30 percent of Maine’s 12th-graders binge drink.

A 2002 survey of Maine parents indicated that they were very concerned about alcohol consumption by their children, but that they vastly underestimate the potential for their child’s drinking and particularly underestimated the possibility of their child binge drinking.

Not only do parents seem unaware of the level of their child’s involvement with alcohol, many are unaware of the numerous messages being directed to minors. Today’s youth are inundated by beer and distilled spirit ads on television and in the magazines they read. According to a recent report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, in 2003 alone, more than 50 percent of the $326 million spent to advertise alcohol in national magazines, as well as almost half of the 3,241 ads, went to magazines more likely to be read by underage youth than adults on a per capita basis.

These ads depict young people at parties with music and dancing and leave teens with the impression that alcohol is a necessary component for a good time. This is too much alcohol advertising reaching a population for whom the product is illegal. Is it any wonder that teens have developed the idea that drinking is not only acceptable, but necessary?

As adults, we are not as aware of the pervasiveness of the alcohol marketing that is influencing our children’s lives. But we are affected by it as well in our belief that there is a general public acceptance of youth alcohol consumption. In fact, when parents are polled more than 80 percent support the age 21 drinking laws and an even higher percent do not serve alcohol to their own children.

We have been deceived into thinking that the behavior of a few is the behavior of the majority. Most adults do not think it is an acceptable right of passage for teens to get drunk to celebrate their achievements.

Maine law enforcement is taking this issue very seriously through strict enforcement of underage drinking and furnishing laws. Adults who provide alcohol or who allow teen drinking parties in their homes are endangering our children. Taking away the car keys is not enough. People who provide alcohol to minors could find themselves facing hefty fines or worse. In Maine, the penalty for adults furnishing alcohol to a minor is a

misdemeanor crime punishable by up to one year in jail.

Let’s not lose any of our most valuable resources this graduation season. Know that you are in the majority when you think it is not OK for teens to drink and act on it. Let law enforcement know you support them – join a community coalition, talk to other parents. It’s up to us as adults to make teenagers understand that underage drinking is not only unacceptable, it’s unsafe.

Kimberly Johnson is executive director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.