Underage drinking

[wondersofwine]

A report says underage drinkers account for 25% of the alcohol consumption in the United States. Come on, adults--we're not drinking our share (except maybe WW)!
Seriously, that much alcohol consumption by underage drinkers is a sign of binge drinking. Apparently it is much more common now amid teens than when I was in high school. Physical abuse by boyfriends is also up and may be related to alcohol consumption.
I don't have any solutions but was distressed by the statistics.

[Bucko]

I have a hard time believing that report. Who generated it? MADD? NIAAA?

[wondersofwine]

Researchers at Columbia University
Check on www.cnn.com--they have a good article about it.

[wondersofwine]

Bucko, you appear to be correct. San Jose Mercury and Boston Globe have articles saying that the 25% of alcohol consumption is exaggerated. Government figures have it at 11.4%. (Still high enough to be cause for concern). I did a Google search (www.google.com) under Underage Drinkers and Underage Drinking. The CNN article was from yesterday 02/26 so is easier to locate through the Google search than going directly to CNN website.

[Thomas]

What's that Mark Twain quote about statistics and lies????

I make it a general practice of not believing any statistics until I find out who did the "research" and why. If Columbia did it, and the results were tied to so-called binge drinking on or off campus, then you can almost bet that Columbia had a vested interest in the outcome of the so-called research.

On the subject of binge drinking, I always thought the word binge referred to alcoholics who stop for a period of time and then go raving mad with alcohol for a period of time, like the illness labeled manic-depressive. What is referred to as binge drinking on campus seems to me more like the weekend bashes that I can remember attending as far back in the stone age when I was young.

Granted, there are young people who are alcoholics, but I cannot believe 25% of them are. I can, however, believe that 25% of them have drinking parties on weekends.

A lot of this goes to the matter of alcohol as taboo in our culture. If young people were raised to respect alcohol instead of to revere it through its "bad" reputation, which is exactly what a young person does for fun, then--maybe--we can get a handle on so-called binge drinking on campus.

[wondersofwine]

Twain's guote which he says was attributed to Disraeli: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

[Duane Meissner]

Another crazy thing about laws and alcohol...

Some kids eagerly await their 21st birthday so they can finally drink legally, and so when they DO finally turn 21, they have a lot of it (especially in that first year).
It doesn't make sense to me, then, to make the legal drinking age later than the legal driving age.
I think a big reason we have so many Alcohol related deaths on the street is because kids who have been driving for 5 years all of a sudden are welcomed with open arms to the world of legal drinking, and don't know how to handle alcohol.
Kudos to our European friends (and whoever else) who have reversed this! Your statistics are better than ours!

DM

[hotwine]

The Columbia report sounds like yet another case of "Figures don't lie, but liars sure figure." Statisticians can build a case for just about anything they want, given enough data.

[Drew]

Couldn't agree more that these stats sound a little suspect. My experience with 30 years of rubbing elbows with drunks doesn't match with a 25% underage drinking problem.

Drew

[hotwine]

And just heard on the NBC News tonight that the report has been withdrawn, that the "real" number is about 11%. Makes a lot more sense.

[Bucko]

Thanks for all of the updates. I can see Curmy spinning in his grave.

[wondersofwine]

To be accurate, the report never said that 25% of teenagers have a drinking problem--it said that 25% of alcohol consumption was by underage drinkers. And when Bucko questioned that statistic I did further searching and reported that the government figure was 11.4%. Still high enough to cause some concern. Added to the concern over Ecstasy pills and glue-sniffing and other dumb things teenagers try.

[winoweenie]

Curmys' spinning and the weener is fuming. Having 5 of my own that all were exposed to the ritual of wine at mealtime as natural, none of the little monsters ever gave one moment of interest in bpzzing it up. Pot yes... booze NO. WW

[Thomas]

ww, you shooda given them sum pot afta dinnah to teach em to respec it!!!

[winoweenie]

Share my Stash? Nebber!!!!WW