Study: Non-drinking teens on the rise
By Herb Scribner, Deseret News
It looks like teenagers aren’t hitting the bottle as often as before. On Jan. 10, BBC News Magazine published an article that looked at the teenage non-drinkers, who are finding other ways to celebrate and have fun without sipping the sauce.
“UK teenagers might have a reputation for binge drinking, but in reality the number of young people consuming alcohol has declined sharply,” wrote Catrin Nye and Hermeet Chadha for BBC.
Teenagers are stepping away from alcoholic drinks and finding other ways to spend their time, BBC reported. The article highlighted Liam Brooks, an 18-year-old from east London, who had to put drinkers to bed and said “there is no pretty drunk,” BBC reported.
BBC’s findings are based on a 2012 report by the National Health Service statistics that found 12 percent of those age 11 to 15 said in 2011 they have sipped alcohol within the last week. This number is down from the 26 percent found in the previous decade, BBC reported.
While I do believe alcohol is not the drug of choice for our youth, other things have replaced it. Marijuana, heroin, prescription meds are all being used by our kids as they are easy to get a hold of. Lake Tahoe has an amazing Drug Free Coalition who are working hard to solve the drug problem in our community, and it’s a big one. Businesses and the public alike are invited and needed to change the tone of drug use in our community by everyone; that it’s not acceptable for youth at any age to do any drug. Parents can be involved by getting more educated about what’s out there and about drugs in general. Regardless of your family structure, Parents are the first line of defense when it comes to youth not experimenting in the first place. It’s never too late to LEARN about drugs, all drugs, and to talk with your youth on a regular basis. Schools are the second line of defense. LTUSD should go back to having a comprehensive research-validated curriculum that is taught in grades K – 9; curriculum which focuses on students making decisions, how to respect themselves and others, and yes–about drugs and what they ALL do to our bodies. While the 6th graders in our community participate in a day long drug prevention event called The Drug Store Project, it is NOT the only “lesson” our kids need or deserve. All ADULTS should also evaluate the messages we are sending our kids when it comes to legal-adult “rewards” such as alcohol. I know my behavior has changed around our kids and it’s changed for the better. Help the Coalition; get involved. Contact Tahoe Youth and Family Services for more information. And for the folks out there that do not have children of their own, drugs and alcohol affect your pocket book! Health care costs, law enforcement, courts…there is nothing positive about drug abuse on any level. I don’t care what motivation people have, but don’t leave this problem up “to the next guy”. Everyone can certainly force our schools, which we pay for, to again provide what our kids need to be healthy in order to learn. You can also find out more information from our youth by learning what they have been saying for YEARS though a self-reporting, anonymous survey called the California Healthy Kids Survey. Survey results can be searched specifically for our kids at http://chks.wested.org/reports/search
My concern is that the legalize pot people are making it easier for youth to get ahold of pot. They say its for people that need it to replace other meds for pain mgnt or some other symptom. I bet that most of the teenager pot smokers have medical
Marijuana cards and are hopeing to have access as soon as the vote comes to our town. I personally dont care what people do in their own home but I am worried about my son and the message he will get from our town as pot becomes available in a store setting. Im glad that most of the dispensaries are closed, as one was right down the street from our elementary school. I only saw young people hanging out there.
im all for the program the response above submitted. My son is looking forward to the drug store program as right now he is not interested in the pot thing and I hope he stays true to this ideal. It worries me that so many people are driving around stoned, drunk, high on meds, its a scary thing…