By Amy Bass
Compass Behavioral Health Care, Inc.

First, it was caffeinated alcoholic beverages and now its alcohol-laced whipped cream.  You can bet Arizona teens are paying attention to these fads, but what about their parents? More than ever, we must protect our teens from the lure of alcohol by not enabling their desire to experiment.

According to the recently released 2010 Arizona Youth Survey, nearly 20 percent of high school seniors in Arizona said they obtained alcohol from somebody related to them while 40 percent admitted they had an unrelated adult purchase or provide it for them.

What many adults fail to see is what science already tells us—underage drinking causes permanent, physical and mental changes in the young brain. Underage alcohol consumption is the number one substance abuse problem facing Arizona’s youth today and kids are trying alcohol earlier than ever.  Fifty-two percent of Pima County eighth graders have already tried alcoholic beverages (compared to 45 percent as the statewide average) and by the time they graduate high school, 34 percent say they’ve binge drank within the past two weeks (also higher than the statewide average).

Health research has shown that the brain is still developing into one’s early 20s, and that even moderate alcohol use during teen and pre-teen years can cause irreversible changes to the brain. Not only are children who drink at a young age more likely to become alcoholics in their lifetime, alcohol damages their impulse-control and judgment areas of their brain, and impacts learning and memory functions, according to the Journal for Substance Abuse.

The Community Prevention Coalition will host the Draw the Line underage drinking exhibit will be traveling to Tucson this week and will be on site at the “Walk Like MADD.” event on March 19^th at Reid Park from 7:30 AM to 12:00 PM. The exhibit explains in English and Spanish the dangerous affects of underage drinking and is designed to engage adults in conversations about the power they have to prevent it.  Visitors can sign the 20’x20’ “pledge wall” to promise not to serve teens with alcohol. Community Prevention Coalition staff and volunteers will be there to answer questions and provide parents and teens with prevention information and promotional items. Parents visiting the booth to make a pledge will be entered into a drawing for prizes.

It is time for us, as Arizona adults, to stop believing that underage drinking is a “rite of passage” and something we can’t prevent. We must stop believing that it is safe for our kids to consume it, whether they are in our homes or not.

Enabling teens to drink ultimately hurts their health and it is against the law. Responsible adults can be the difference that prevents unfortunate mistakes from happening to our children. It is time to Draw the Line. Learn how to prevent teen drinking at www.drawyourline.com

About the author

Amy Bass is director of prevention at Compass Behavioral Health Care, Inc., in Tucson and leader of the Pima County Community Prevention Coalition. Abass@compasshc.org

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.