Underage drinking cost the citizens of The United States $68.0 billion in 2007. These costs include medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth.1 This translates to a cost of $2,280 per year for each youth in the State. Excluding pain and suffering from these costs, the direct costs of underage drinking incurred through medical care and loss of work cost the United States $22.3 billion each year.
Youth violence (homicide, suicide, aggravated assault) and traffic crashes attributable to alcohol use by underage youth in the United States represent the largest costs for the State. However, a host of other problems contribute substantially to the overall cost. Among teen mothers, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) alone costs the United States $1,227 million. Check the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center for data on costs for your state.
Option One: Reach Children with Problems Early
- Nearly 8000 children between the ages of 12 and 17 start to drink each day in the USA. [SAMHSA]
- In 2007, 7.8 percent of people age 12 or older—an estimated 19.3 million people—needed treatment for an alcohol problem in the past year. [SAMHSA]
- 18- to 20- year-olds have the highest prevalence of DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence [ NSDUH]
- 5.5 percent of youth ages 12-17 meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohl abuse or dependence [NSDUH, SAMHSA]
- Annually 2,500 Ohioans, ages 12-20, are admitted for alcohol treatment [ ODADAS] { check with your single state agency for similar data for your state}
- As many as 300,000 fourth and fifth graders (3.7% of fourth graders and 4.6% of fifth graders) begin drinking alcohol before reaching the sixth grade [Pride Survey, 2009]. These students are between 9 and 11 years old. http://www.pridesurveys.com/customercenter/ue08ns.pdf
Option Two: Remove Access and Incentives - Alcohol use increases dramatically during adolescence. About 15% of 12 year olds have had a whole drink; by age 15, approximately 50 % of boys and girls have had a whole drink of alcohol; by age 21, approximately 90 percent have done so. [ NSDUH, SAMHSA]
- Underage drinkers account for 21.1 percent of all the alcohol consumed in Ohio. [?CASA, 2003]
- [??? look at the CASA report for your state data]
- A survey of over 6000 teenagers revealed : Teenagers usually get their alcohol from persons 21 or older. The second most common source for high school students is someone else under age 21, and the second most common source for 18- to 20-year-olds is buying it from a store, bar or restaurant (despite the fact that such sales are against the law).[APIS, NIAAA]
- 76 percent of Ohio students in grades 9-12 have consumed alohcol. [YRBS] - You can check out your state data on the Links from the State Data Page.
- Research suggests that people who have expectations of more positive experiences form drinking tend to drink more that others and are at highest risk for excessive drinking. Children in general shift from a primary emphasis on the negative and adverse effects of drinking alcohol before age 9 to a primary emphasis on the positive and arousing effects of alchol by about age 13. [US Surgeon Genreal Call to Action, 2007]
- In 1998, States spent $81.3 billion – 13% of their budgets to deal with the substance abuse and addiction. For each dollar, 96 cents went to shovel up the wreckage of substance abuse and addiction and only 4 cents wne to prevent and treat it. [CASA, see their website for state by state data]
Option Three: Help Children through Difficult Times in Development - Children need help growing up safe and healthy.
- Children who start to drink alcohol before the age of 15 are at great risk for short and long-term consequences, such as other substance abuse problems, risky sexual behavior, unintentional injuries, car crashes, and physical fights. [US Surgeon General Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, 2007]
- Adolescence isa time of heightened risk taking, independence seeking and experimentation, and alcohol has been shown to impair one’s ability to evaluate risk and reward when making decisions. [US surgeon General Call to Action, 2007]
