Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 11, 1994 TAG: 9404120001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JUNE RUSSELL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence encourages adults to abstain from alcohol for one week in the month of April and promote recreational activities as an alternative to alcohol use. This will set a good example for our young people who need to know that alcohol does not have to be an integral part of every social situation or recreational activity. Instead of chemical highs, natural highs from exercise, meditation and involvement in other activities should be encouraged.
A recent federal survey shows the drug of choice for today's teens is alcohol. Eight million American teen-agers drink alcohol every week. The No. 1 drug threat to our young people is alcohol. It is often the first drug used by students, and one of its most immediate effects is to lower resistance to experiment with other drugs. It is, like tobacco, a "gateway" drug. Using alcohol makes it likelier that teens will engage in other life-threatening activities.
Alcohol is the leading cause of death for people under the age of 21, even though it is illegal to drink or even possess alcohol for this age group. Adolescents minimize the consequences of alcohol consumption. For them it is not only an adult activity but a way to be one of the crowd, and often it is used to avoid intimacy or to seek intimacy without responsibility.
Nearly one-third of our high school seniors believe there is no great risk in having four or five drinks almost every day. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence tells us that in the 13- to 17-year-old age group there are 3 million problem drinkers and more than 300,000 teen-age alcoholics. The average age at which people begin drinking is 13. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported that one-third of eighth-graders and half of 10th-graders reported riding during the previous month with a driver who had used alcohol or other drugs before driving.
Drug-prevention specialists have found that children who see their parents drink alcohol or use other drugs as a means to relax, solve problems or be entertained are likely to do the same. Many otherwise responsible adults think nothing of allowing their teens to drink, and will even serve alcohol to their friends, though it presents risks to the teens' health and is a criminal offense.
Lee Dogoloff, executive director of the American Council for Drug Education, reminds us that teens lack the emotional and physical maturity and experience to make wise decisions about alcohol use. He also says that most adolescents do not use alcohol as a beverage; they drink to get drunk.
Dr. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, advises parents to stop seeing drug and alcohol use as simply a rite of passage into adulthood. Students should be alerted to the dangers of even casual use of alcohol.
There are many messages encouraging our youth to drink. Children see 100,000 beer advertisements before they are of legal drinking age, and there are an average of eight drinking ads per hour on television, according to The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
We have failed to require warnings on media advertisements for alcohol, as we do on tobacco, and social expectations are created that alcohol consumption is appropriate in all situations. This not only increases drinking, but gives the viewer mistaken beliefs about alcohol and its consequences. Alcohol advertisements connect alcohol with success, physical fitness, fun, happiness and sexual attraction. There are no warnings that tell consumers of the risks involved, the health problems, broken families, birth defects in children, lives lost and the enormous health-care costs.
Alcohol-related problems can affect everyone who drinks, and alcohol hurts not only the person who drinks, but others as well. The most responsible thing one can do is to enjoy an alcohol-free lifestyle.
Many lack the knowledge to make an educated choice concerning alcohol use. Consider these facts:
One drink leaves a person less able to make responsible decisions about risk activities such as having another drink, driving or engaging in sex. It takes only one drink to alter mood, cognition and motor performance enough to affect driving skills.
Alcohol ages and damages the brain, and it anesthetizes the brain even 24 hours after it leaves the blood.
Alcohol use increases cancer risks, lowers immunity, causes a loss of intellect and increases sexual problems for both sexes.
Small amounts of alcohol impair the body's resistance to HIV and can cause a tenfold increase in the rate of its multiplication, according to the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
It may take an adult drinker 10 to 15 years to develop alcoholism, but youngsters can become alcoholic in as little as six months to three years.
Damage to the liver and other organs is more likely to affect younger drinkers than older ones because the adolescent's brain and body systems are still developing.
There are interactions with alcohol and other drugs, even over-the-counter ones, that can be not only dangerous but lethal. Many are allergic to the ingredients in alcohol.
Alcohol suppresses the body's ability to burn fat as well as causes fatigue. It leeches calcium from the bones, which increases osteoporosis and interferes with absorption of nutrients.
Those who need to be energetic, alert and mentally fit are advised not to drink alcohol. It is insidious and unpredictable, and plays havoc with self-discipline and will power.
Alcohol is involved in 50 percent of traffic fatalities, 50 percent of homicides, 70 percent of drownings, 70 percent of rapes, 70 percent of boating fatalities, 40 percent of falls and 50 percent of accidents in the home. Four out of five suicide attempts involve alcohol.
Alcohol damages the unborn child. Consumption by a mother any time during the first three months of pregnancy can cause birth defects. There is increasing evidence that alcohol may cause genetic damage to the egg and sperm that would increase the occurrences of birth defects in future children.
A female will experience more serious effects than the male because of her menstrual cycle; 30 percent more alcohol enters her bloodstream than a man's, even if they are both the same weight and size and they consume the same amount of alcohol.
A recent survey of 15,000 students in grades 6-12 found that parental permissiveness was a more important risk factor than peer pressure in the alcohol problems of our youth. When teens are permitted to use alcohol at home, they not only are more likely to use alcohol and drugs outside the home, they are more likely to develop alcohol- and drug-related behavioral and health problems.
Efforts to deal with the results of alcohol use by our youth are not as effective as prevention. We must educate ourselves and our youth.
June Russell of Charlottesville is a retired health educator and a volunteer with various alcohol awareness groups.
by CNB