Underage Drinking Embedded in American Culture
Considered a Rite of Passage and often Facilitated by Adults

• American Medical Association Surveys found:

• About one in four (26 percent) U.S. parents with children (aged 12 to 20) agree that teens should be able to drink at home with their parents present. A fourth of these parents admitted to allowing their children to do so.

• Two out of three teens (aged 13 to 18) said it is easy to get alcohol from their homes without their parents knowing it.

• Thirty-three percent of teens responded that it is easy to obtain alcohol from their own parents (knowingly); this increases to 40 percent when it is from a friend’s parent.

• One in four teens have attended a party where underage youth were drinking in front of parents.

• Youth in Placer County focus groups consistently listed parents, their own or friends, as one of the most common ways to obtain alcohol.

• Underage drinkers consumed 12.4% of all alcohol sold in California in 2005, totaling $2.3 billion in sales. These sales provided profits of $1.1 billion to the alcohol industry.

• Youth who drink before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21.

• Alcohol kills 4 times more young people than all other illicit drugs combined.

• Three teens are killed each day when they drink alcohol and drive. At least six more die every day from other alcohol-related causes (such as drowning, suicide and homicide).

• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3571 young drivers ages 16-20 died in motor vehicle crashes. Of these, 1,131 – approximately 32% had been drinking, and 26% were legally drunk at the time of the crash.

• In Placer County, 30% of high school juniors report driving after drinking.
  (Question =Have you driven when drinking or been in a car driven by a friend when he or she had been drinking?) [More]