Let's stop underage drinking

By Chris Davis

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- There's trouble brewing in the 21st century:

Underage drinking.

Two independent studies recently drew these alarming conclusions:

Children who begin alcohol consumption in elementary school are four times more likely to continue drinking in middle school.

Fifty-seven percent of teenagers surveyed believe that popular youngsters drink alcohol.

The two studies portray a disturbing distinction between underage drinking among young people of previous generations and what we see today.

Twenty-first century underage drinking is the perceived road to popularity, begins in elementary school and continues progressively into middle school and beyond.

In the first study, Dr. Nance Wilson of the University of California-Berkeley interviewed more than 300 children in elementary school and again when they entered middle school.

Her results indicate that we are not seeing "passing experimentation" at earlier ages, but alcohol initiation and continuing alcohol consumption by children.

The second study shows how ingrained drinking has become among children.

Fifty-seven percent of the 14-to-22-year-olds survey by Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center believed "popular peers" drink alcohol. Surprisingly, these same young people recognized the health risks of alcohol use.

This isn't a pretty picture of childhood in America.

Today's child lives in a world soaked in billions of dollars of alcohol advertising.

He or she has easy access to cheap, sweet, fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages and watches, cool, hip people on television in the the latest beer ads.

Today's child can download video games from beer Web sites and screen savers featuring their favorite brands of beer.

Underage drinking is not a result of bad parenting. It is an environmental threat that should concern all parents, just as they are concerned about their children's exposure to dirty air and water.

Parents have the power to fight underage drinking. They can express concern about communities saturated with alcohol advertising and sponsorships that teach children the false notion that everyone drinks equally.

Parents can make it clear to community and school leaders that they will not provide alcohol to minors or tolerate those who do.

Concerned adults can ask community leaders to rethink the appropriateness of alcohol sponsorships for family events and take steps to separate alcoholic-beverage service from family and youth events.

Parents have the ability to clean up the community alcohol environment.

One aspect of childhood hasn't changed. Children still have developing minds and growing bodies.

Alcohol consumption in late childhood and early adolescence may cause brain damage or even death from alcohol poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control released a survey in 2000 showing 20 percent of ninth graders are more vulnerable to addiction than adults.

A child can become alcohol dependent in as little as six months -- less than a school year.

It is time for members of every Missouri community to thoroughly examine its own alcohol environment and make the changes that will reduce childhood drinking.

Just as a community can unintentionally allow underage drinking, a community can focus attention on eliminating the factors that permit or encourage underage alcohol use.

Chris Davis is the chairman of Missouri's Youth/Adult Alliance, a coaltion to reduce underage drinking.