Teens Keep Turning to Alcoholic Beverages

When a panel of three teenagers, a Shawnee County sheriff’s lieutenant and Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller discussed the dangers of underage drinking at an April town hall meeting, they weren’t necessarily addressing the youths in the crowd of 70 plus.

Lynn Smith, youth coordinator for Safe Streets, who helped organize the event, said the purpose was to educate the community about how underage drinking can be harmful and hopefully help stop the growing epedimic where it starts.

“Underage drinking is something that’s on the rise here in Shawnee County and Topeka,” Smith said. “And we’re finding the most common way teenagers are getting the alcohol is from parents, older siblings or they are just approaching strangers in the parking lot asking them to buy it for them.”

By teaching parents, neighbors and community members about the health and legal risks, including jail time for those who provide alcohol to minors, Smith said, the goal is to cut out teenagers’ adult beverage source.

It was one of the goals initiated nationwide by the Surgeon Generals’ Office after statistics taken from studies in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the newest years available, showed more and more 12- to 20- year-olds were drinking illegally. Town hall meetings, similar to the one in Shawnee County, were or are being held in more than 1,600 cities to brainstorm ways to stop the numbers from growing.

Here are some highlights from the reports by The National Survey on Drug Use and Health and The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

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