Drinking Among High School Students Continues

    “It was only a few beers, I thought I was fine. Little did I know that later that night I would be upside down in a ditch.” 

  South Kingstown High School senior Ronald Blue says he has been drinking since age thirteen and up until last spring, drank every weekend and on some occasional week days. Blue’s behavior isn’t abnormal.

  The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism claims, 65 percent of high school seniors have gotten drunk within the past month. This statistic, although large in size, may not come as a shock to most high school students.

  Two weeks ago, one junior and three seniors at SKHS were suspended for attending a school dance under the influence of alcohol.  

  Researchers from Columbia University say that many parents are “unwitting co-conspirators” whose ambivalence contributes to the problem of teen drinking.

  “Both my parents are 100 percent aware that I drink but neither do anything about it,” said Blue. “My mom does get really angry but my dad just looks the other way.”

  Denial is largely a contributing factor to why so many parents know of the problem with underage drinking but don’t act on it to prevent or address the situation with their teen.

  “Sometimes parents can be clueless. They know you’re going out and they know you’re going to be surrounded by teen drinkers,” Miller added. “They just don’t want to think it’s their kid who’s actually drinking.”

  Lately, new laws have been enforced to punish parents that do nothing about their underage teen drinker in an effort to reduce the numbers.

  According to, Penny Wells, executive director of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), “The new laws are critical.”

  “When parents promote something illegal, it sends the message to kids that it’s okay to break the law.”

  “My mom knows I drink,” one high school senior stated, “but she has never really confronted me about it because she knows I don’t do it often and I am responsible enough to know when to stop”.

  Recently, over 100 presidents from various colleges across the U.S. have recommended changing the drinking age back to 18 years of age. They believe that by lowering the age to 18, the number of under aged teens who abuse alcohol will decrease which directly affects the number of drunk driving accidents as well as other crimes relating to alcohol use.

  “Twenty one is not working,” reads the statement on the petition signed by multiple colleges such as Dartmouth, Duke and Syracuse.

  However, Robert L. Carothers, president of the University of Rhode Island, disagreed by saying, “we know so much more now about adolescent brain development. The earlier a person starts to use alcohol, the greater the odds that the person will develop abuse and addiction behaviors.”

  Still, Carothers argues that “there is already quite a body of science out there that shows that the earlier a person has alcohol, the more likely it is that he or she will abuse alcohol.”

  Another SKHS senior Paul Green, believes that “If the drinking age were 18, teens would learn to drink with their parents and in doing that, would develop better, more responsible drinking habits.”

  However, other students like junior Natasha Miller disagree.

  “I think that lowering the drinking age is a bad thing because many students in our school are 18 right now and there just going to buy it for all the younger students,” Miller said. “The amount of under aged drinkers will just go up.”

  Green claims that he drinks between 3-4 times a week and typically drinks until he is fully drunk.

“Sometimes I’ll have a beer to enjoy the taste,” Green explained. “If it’s a Friday or Saturday night, I’ll be drinking to get drunk.”

Another suspected problem arising from the increase in underage drinkers at SKHS is the impact of drinking on schoolwork.

The Division of Adult and Community Health insists that students who drink are more likely to experience a  higher amount of school absences or failing grades as well as violence brought on by the use of alcohol.

  “I know a lot of people that might drink on a regular basis but still do well in school,” Miller said. “They just make poor decisions when they party.”

  Both Blue and Green agree that school and education take priority over going out and partying.

  Although the first claim doesn’t apply to Blue, he does agree with the second statement.

 “I’ve seen a lot of crime in response to over drinking,” he said. “I personally have been punched in the face and been pushed down the stairs just to name a few.”

  It’s this violence that brings up yet another serious issue involved with underage drinking. In a recent report from the National Academies, it was found that “alcohol has been reported to be involved in 36 percent of homicides involving people under 21.”

 “I think drinking definitely brings on crime or violence. I’ve been around people who are drinking and end up getting into big fights over the dumbest things,” Miller said. “It’s just stupid and not worth it.”

  In addition to these problems, the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety reported, “For every 100,000 licensed drivers, young drinking drivers are involved in fatal crashes at approximately twice the rate of drivers aged 21 and older.”

  “I would say drinking and driving happens a lot,” freshman Rachel Hayden said. “It’s really very unfortunate.”

  Miller says that many kids at SK think it’s okay to drink and drive and just aren’t aware of the risks they’re exposing themselves to, as well as the safety of others.

  According to The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, “almost 75 percent of teenage passengers who are killed in car crashes die when another teenager is behind the wheel.”

  Green claims that around 70 percent of his friends drink regularly. Blue admits that an alarming 95 percent of his friends drink and it usually is a group activity in which driving occurs.

  As of last year, Rhode Island ranked 3^rd highest among the 50 states in our country for the largest cost per youth in result of underage drinking.

  “I’m honestly not concerned with the amount of underage teen drinkers,” Green said with a shrug, “because I believe there are far bigger issues that need people’s attention than under aged drinking.”

  “I think it’s very accepted and that nobody judges anybody anymore based on if they drink or not,” Blue added. “I know that it doesn’t matter to me.”

  Not only do both Blue and Green agree and think drinking isn’t a concern when making new friends, but students who don’t drink don’t feel it’s an issue either.

  Miller added, “Just because someone drinks doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. You just have to know how to say no and then it’s easy to stay friends with them.”

  Unfortunately, others believe the pressures of being in high school are high enough. When put into a situation where drinking is an option students must know stand by their decision. As a freshman, that decision might be unclear as some kids might just want to fit in with the upper classmen and feel the need to drink in doing so.

   “At this point, I would say alcohol is the most abused intoxicant used by high school students,” Blue stated. “I think being drunk is an experience we should all have in our lives but it’s also one that’s worth waiting for.

  “There’s no need for us all to be drinking so young.”

      

The names of some students were changed to protect their privacy.