Delaying alcohol use

In his July 11 column, John Buell mentions The New York Times article, “The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking,” but fails to share new research outlined in the article.

According to a national survey of 43,093 people published on July 3 in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 47 percent of those who begin drinking before age 14 will become alcohol dependent at some point in their lives, compared to 9 percent of those who wait until they are 21. Even after controlling for other risk factors for dependence, like genetics, the connection was there.

As Dr. Aaron White states, “We definitely didn’t know 5 or 10 years ago that alcohol affected the teen brain differently. Now there’s a sense of urgency. It’s the same place we were in when everyone realized what a bad thing it was for pregnant women to drink alcohol.” Research continues to emerge on the importance of delaying youth alcohol use, and it is worth paying attention to.

Buell feels strongly about supervised drinking, but seems to be unaware of Maine law. If a parent feels it is important to teach their own child to drink “responsibly” (meaning amounts that don’t constitute child endangerment), they are well within the law to do so in their own home. An individual breaks the law when they make that decision for someone else’s child.

Interestingly, advocates of “teaching” responsible drinking often believe European teens drink more responsibly then American teens. A recent study compared the drinking rates of 10th-graders in the United States and 35 European countries (including Italy and France) and found that only Turkey had lower underage and binge drinking rates then the United States.

Underage drinking is a multi-faceted issue, but in Buell’s column readers are only getting one side of the story.

Cyndi Desrosiers

Project director

Prevention Coalition

Greater Waterville Communities

for Children & Youth

Waterville