July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Talk to kids about alcohol issues
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, which gives us time to raise awareness about alcohol use and to encourage youth today to make healthy and wise choices. I think this gives us time to reflect on how we as a community teach today’s youth on the harmful effects that drinking at an early age can lead to. Alcohol use negatively affects youths’, health, academic performance and relationships with friends and family.
When youth drink, they tend to drink intensively, often consuming four to five drinks at one time. Monitoring The Future (MTF) data show that 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, and 29 percent of 12th graders had engaged in heavy episodic—or binge—drinking within the past 2 weeks. Typically today’s youth experiment more with binge drinking than any other way to consume alcohol. Underage drinking is a major risk factor that can lead to short term medical effects and can lead to a life of heavy drinking.
Most of us should understand that some of those numbers might seem high; however, drinking alcohol has decreased drastically over the past several years and continues to decrease. According to Monitoring The Future (MTF) alcohol use, including binge drinking continued its longer term decline among teens, reaching historically low levels in 2011.
We as a community should remind today’s youth “don’t be afraid to say no” and to remind them that when someone says that everyone is doing it, that is simply not the case. Remind them to “surround” themselves with friends that have the same likes and dislikes that they have. “Be a role model”, and set a positive example for others to follow.
On Friday April 20, 2012 in cooperation with the Portland Police Department, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition, Jay County Community Corrections and The Jay County Sheriff’s Office will be educating Jay County students about the harmful effects of drinking and driving and curbing the “myths” that most teens drink.
Finally, young people today are faced with many challenges; however, the decisions they make today can and will affect them the rest of their lives.
Michael Brewster
Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition[[In-content Ad]]
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, which gives us time to raise awareness about alcohol use and to encourage youth today to make healthy and wise choices. I think this gives us time to reflect on how we as a community teach today’s youth on the harmful effects that drinking at an early age can lead to. Alcohol use negatively affects youths’, health, academic performance and relationships with friends and family.
When youth drink, they tend to drink intensively, often consuming four to five drinks at one time. Monitoring The Future (MTF) data show that 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, and 29 percent of 12th graders had engaged in heavy episodic—or binge—drinking within the past 2 weeks. Typically today’s youth experiment more with binge drinking than any other way to consume alcohol. Underage drinking is a major risk factor that can lead to short term medical effects and can lead to a life of heavy drinking.
Most of us should understand that some of those numbers might seem high; however, drinking alcohol has decreased drastically over the past several years and continues to decrease. According to Monitoring The Future (MTF) alcohol use, including binge drinking continued its longer term decline among teens, reaching historically low levels in 2011.
We as a community should remind today’s youth “don’t be afraid to say no” and to remind them that when someone says that everyone is doing it, that is simply not the case. Remind them to “surround” themselves with friends that have the same likes and dislikes that they have. “Be a role model”, and set a positive example for others to follow.
On Friday April 20, 2012 in cooperation with the Portland Police Department, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition, Jay County Community Corrections and The Jay County Sheriff’s Office will be educating Jay County students about the harmful effects of drinking and driving and curbing the “myths” that most teens drink.
Finally, young people today are faced with many challenges; however, the decisions they make today can and will affect them the rest of their lives.
Michael Brewster
Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition[[In-content Ad]]
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