National Campaign Launched to Prevent Underage Drinking
More than 10 million young people between 12 and 20 reported
current alcohol use.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), in partnership with the Ad Council, recently launched a
national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to prevent underage
drinking.
According to the 2004 National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, roughly 10.8 million underage persons ages 12 to
20 (28.7 percent) reported current alcohol use. About 7.4 million (19.6
percent) were binge drinkers who consumed five or more drinks on the same
occasion, and 2.4 million (6.3 percent) were heavy drinkers who binge five or
more times in a month.
“These new ads will help us create and
sustain a strong national commitment to prevent and reduce underage
drinking,” HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a release last
week.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) issued a report earlier this year demonstrating that the vast majority
of youth ages 12 to 17 (more than 20 million, or 83 percent) are receiving drug
and alcohol prevention messages through the media. The report also showed that
those who have been exposed to such messages are less likely to abuse drugs or
alcohol.
The new campaign aims to encourage parents to speak to their
children about alcohol in an effort to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
The PSAs end with the tagline: “Start Talking before They Start
Drinking.”
SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie said, “Parents
of children and teens must change their attitudes toward teen drinking from
acceptance to abstinence, and recognize the importance of talking to their
children early and often about alcohol, especially before they’ve started
drinking.”
The survey shows that 2 million of the alcohol-dependent
adults now ages 21 or older first used alcohol before age 14. Adults who had
first used alcohol before age 15 are five times more likely to become dependent
than adults who first used after the legal drinking age.
“Many
young people are told that drugs are dangerous, but not how or why,” said
a supervisor for Narconon Arrowhead in charge of drug education in a recent
release, “To deter them from experimentation with these substances, it
helps to project into the future what alcohol and drug use leads to and to
explain that none of the 23 million people in need of substance abuse treatment
ever thought they would become an addict.”
© 2009 Drug-Free Alliance