Article from Columbus Telegram
By Julie Blum jblum@columbustelegram.com | Posted: Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:44 pm
COLUMBUS — Alcohol consumption among teens is decreasing, but still more than half of area high school freshmen have admitted to drinking.
Over the past decade, the establishment of anti-alcohol education programs might be the reason fewer youth are drinking. But numbers show that Platte and other counties in the area have higher percentages of underage alcohol consumption compared to the state and nation.
“While many of our statistics are more positive than they were in 2001, we still have work to do,” said Rebecca Rayman, executive director of the East-Central District Health Department.
Alcohol abuse is the top perceived risky behavior in Platte, Boone, Colfax and Nance counties, according to a Comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment released this year by the health department. The department covers those four counties.
Recognition that alcohol abuse is a risky behavior is a positive, said Brenda Preister, program coordinator for Back to BASICs, a coalition geared toward preventing and reducing youth substance abuse. But Preister said it is still a challenge getting past barriers to address the issue of underage drinking.
“I don’t know if it is a Midwest thing or if our community is special with this, but there’s the thinking that it’s a rite of passage,” she said.
According to the assessment, 22 percent of those surveyed in the district did say just that and viewed drinking as “an important milestone” for a teen as they moved into adulthood. That number was about three percent higher than the state.
The majority of those same people surveyed, though, about 80 percent, did say that alcohol use by those younger than 21 is a problem and that more should be done to prevent it.
In 2010, the health department collaborated with area schools to get a better picture of alcohol use among high school students. The survey was a follow-up to a similar one given 10 years prior.
Results showed that even though 51 percent of freshmen have tried alcohol at some point, that was a decrease from the 68 percent that admitted to it in 2001. Of all the high school students asked, the drop in alcohol consumption was more evident, falling from 78 percent to 58. But that is still higher than the 2009 national average of 42 percent.
“Our district is getting better because of the work by the community, but more work must be done to create an environment that will protect our youth from alcohol-related problems,” Rayman said.
Those problems can include arrests and health risks like automobile accidents, sexual assault because of lower inhibitions and long-term issues like liver disease and neurological damage.
Wilma Arp, administrator of the Platte Valley Diversion Program, said about a third of the juveniles in the program come to her because of drug and alcohol related offenses.
While she said the attempts in the community to curb underage drinking could be a reason why the number of teens who admitting to drinking are down, that number also could be for another reason.
“Kids are getting much more smart and not getting caught as often,” Arp said.
Columbus Police Capt. Todd Thalken said there is a constant vigilance by the department in regard to underage drinking and drug use. They enforce a zero tolerance law and pursue establishments that sell to minors.
But teens have said that it is easy for them to obtain alcohol, whether that be from older siblings, friends or strangers. Some even do so in their own homes. About 20 percent of high school students who do drink said they do at home with their parents’ permission.
Preister said that is when the “rite of passage” thinking comes in to play. Some parents allow their children to drink at home because it was something they did when they were young.
“They think they are hypocritical to tell them not to and that there is no point in trying to stop them because they are going to do it anyway,” Preister said.
Parents, too, have been a focus of Back to BASICs because of the impact their thinking has on a youth’s decision to drink.
“Parents play a huge role. They aren’t the only deciding factor, but we set the foundation for what kids say and what they believe and what they think is right,” Preister said.
As the overall number of teen drinking gone down the past 10 years, so has the number of underage people binge drinking. Binge drinking means having five or more alcoholic drinks in a couple of hours.
The district average was 32 percent in 2001, but that dropped to 18 percent in 2010. That figure is lower than the national average.
While it is encouraging to see that binge drinking has done down, Rayman said Platte, Boone and Nance counties all are still higher than the state average.
“This places our teens at risk of driving while impaired,” Rayman said.
That seems to be true, according to the assessment.
More area teens have been getting behind the wheel or riding with an intoxicated driver compared to the state.
About a third of high school seniors in Platte County said they have been in a car driven by someone who has been drinking. Nance County had the highest percentage in that category with 57 percent.
Rayman said it has been a long battle for the community to combat underage drinking, and it will continue to be a challenge.
“We have been watching and working on these statistics since we started the health department, and we need to keep working until one day we can report that we are no longer one of the worst districts in the state on these measures,” Rayman said.
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Posted in Local on Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:44 pm
Article from Columbus Telegram
