Underage Drinking The Facts Presented By: BHS Peer Education Program

What’s Is The Big Deal? Alcohol is the #1 DRUG of choice for teens. - Teen alcohol use kills about 6000 people yearly, more than all illegal substances combined. 22% of high school students continue to use alcohol to relax, feel better about themselves, or to fit in. Many parents don’t realize that alcohol is a deadly drug for teens and give in to its use at home.

What Is The Big Deal? Alcohol is a major factor in the 3 leading causes of teen deaths: Motor Vehicle Crashes 1 out of 3 are alcohol related Suicides 3 times more likely to hurt themselves Homicides

Why So Popular? Alcohol is easy to get and is used in celebrations. 1 out of 3 teens got alcohol from home. In fact, 41% of minors were encouraged to drink by adults. Alcohol is heavily advertised and targeted towards youth.

Alcohol Advertising Sex Sells Millions of dollars are spent on ads to entice teens. Kids are more interested in alcohol ads than cartoons. Sex Sells

Did you know? In Maui county, kids as young as 10 reported trying alcohol. By the eighth grade, 1 out of 3 already tried alcohol. The earlier you start, the more problems you will have. Teens who start drinking at age 15 is 5 times more likely to become an alcoholic. This is because the human brain isn’t fully developed until the age of 25. Kids are starting to drink at an earlier age. They often copy their older relatives to feel matured and to fit in.

Academic Effects High school students who drink alcohol are five times more likely to drop out of school. Statewide, 16.5% of high school students had forgotten things they did while using alcohol Drinking affects your memory so you have a hard time learning .

2013 Youth Risk Behavior revealed: 25% of teens in Hawaii drink regularly. This percentage has gone down a little. 12.7% high school students statewide binge drink.

Binge Drinking What is the definition? For girls: 4 or more drinks consumed consecutively For boys: 5 or more drinks consumed consecutively *Because of binge drinking, it is estimated over 3 million teenagers are alcoholics & several million more become problem drinkers.

Binge Drinking Beware of: What’s the danger? Drinking contests Chugging What’s the danger? Alcohol Poisoning: where the body can’t get rid of the alcohol. Drinking games are unfortunately still popular on college campus. Victims get caught up in the excitement and drink without thinking about consequences.

Binge Drinking You could die… By choking on your vomit. When high concentrations of alcohol shut down the brain, heart and lungs. 190,000 emergency rooms visits are by person under age 21.(2010) People forget that alcohol is a poison.

Hawaii Binge Drinkers 12.7% students statewide engage in binge drinking. 34% of high school student’s best friends are drinkers

Driving Drunk On average, a drunk driver will drive 87 times before a first arrest. In 2010 56% of teen drivers were killed due to DUI & not wearing seatbelts.

Motor Vehicle Crashes More fatal crashes involving alcohol occurs 3 times as high at night. 1 in 3 will be involved in an alcohol related crash in a lifetime. Here is a before and after picture of Jacqueline, whose car burst into flames after being hit by a drunk driver. The picture below was the car she drove. Jaqueline Saburido

Don’t Drink and Drive

Alcoholism-Lifelong Disease Teens who start can become an alcoholic in just 6 months. There are 3 million alcoholic teens today. When a teen first decides to drink, it is usually for fun and never intended to become an alcoholic. However, the younger you are, the greater the chance that you will become one, especially if it is in your family tree.

But 90% of college rapes include alcohol. Believe it or not most teen sex assaults are by their drinking dates. Two-thirds or 66% of teen sex assaults & date rapes are linked to alcohol. But 90% of college rapes include alcohol.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome A range of academic, physical, emotional defects. The effects varies and depends on when(what stage of the pregnancy and how much alcohol was introduced to the fetus.

Economical Costs of Alcohol Approximately $53 billion per year is spent on the problems of underage drinking. This is money that could have been spent on schools. Unnecessary costs due to underage drinking affect our school budget.

U.S Economic Costs of Underage Drinking Violent Crimes: $29,368,000,000 Traffic Crashes: $19,452,000,000 Burns: $189,000,000 Drowning: $428,000,000

Economic Costs Suicide Attempts: $1,512,000,000 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: $493,000,000 Alcohol Poisonings: $340,000,000 Treatments: $1,008,000,000 Grand Total: $52,788,000,000 That comes down to $200 for every man, woman and child in the U.S per year. $530 for every household in the U.S.

The Costs of Alcohol Use by Teens in Hawaii $182 million total. Hawaii ranks number 2 among the 50 states for the cost per youth of underage drinking. . In Hawaii, we are spending way too much money to fix the problems created by our young drinkers.. $73 million medical care, work loss. $109 million of pain and suffering associated with multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth.

So Here Are Ways You Could Support Us to create an awareness: Come to our Wellness Tables Participate & Wear Your Ribbons Play The Games

Guests: Wednesday Nov. 12 pd. 3,5 & 6 Attorney Brandon Paredes Mika Johnson pd. 5 & 6 Thurs. Nov. 13 Pd. 1 Attorney Robert Rivera Pd. 2 & 4 Attorney Ronson Ibarra Mika Johnson pd. 1 & 2.

Hawaii Laws Protecting Teens: Zero Tolerance License suspension: 1st offense-6 months license 2nd offense- 1 yr. 3rd offense- 2 years Plus fines up to $1000 100 hours of community service Zero tolerance means teens can’t even have a drop of alcohol in their bodies. The penalties are great.

Other Laws Graduated Driver Licensing law Use and Lose Law- You don’t even have to be driving! 1) License suspension 2) 75 hrs. of community service 3) 8-12 hrs. of Alcohol Ed These laws all have saved lives.

Thank You For Your Attention Any questions?

Feedback Sheets Please take the time to do feedback sheets and tell us what you thought. Special thanks goes to: Rober Rive