Part II in a SeriesDon Heinzman
ECM Staff Writer
Carol Falkowski, who is the director of research communications at the Hazelden Foundation, wonít forget a phone call she received from a mother who had just buried her 15-year-old son. He died from an alcohol overdose, something the doctor called alcohol poisoning.
The distraught mother told Falkowski that friends of her son had awakened her and her husband because they were bringing her son home drunk and unconscious. Her son had passed out and they couldnít wake him.
The parents put him to bed and decided to let him sleep it off. The next morning they found their son dead in his bed.
The mother said, ìI never knew you could die from drinking too much alcohol! I just didnít know! My son didnít either. Why donít they teach that to kids in school?î
Falkowski learned the parents had never really talked about alcohol with their son.
Falkowski has been sounding the alarm about the early use of drugs by young people. She tells parents to learn the signs of kidsí drug use, watch for them and act on them when you see them and donít hesitate to get professional help.
(See the listing of signs of drug use and how to prevent it.)
Why it happens
Why are more and more young people smoking cigarettes and marijuana and drinking liquor?
Thereís one main reason. They make the kids feel good.
To feel good they mainly drink alcohol. Eight of 10 kids in high school will drink alcohol, she says.
In her book, ìDangerous Drugs,î available in local book stores, Falkowski says that although the legal drinking age for alcohol in the United States is 21, 16.4 percent of people ages 12 to 17 use alcohol.
Alcohol is the most prevalent drug of abuse, accounting for over half of admissions to addiction treatment programs.
In 2001, 80 percent of high school seniors, 70 percent of 10th graders and 21.5 percent of eighth graders reported using alcohol at least once in their lifetime.
Whatís becoming more clear, the earlier a person drinks, the more likely they are to become addicted. Falkowski quotes a study by the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey that interviewed 27,616 people.
It found that of those who began drinking before the age of 15, more than 40 percent were classified as alcohol dependent at some point in their lifetime. Among respondents who began drinking at the ages of 21 and 22, only 10 percent became alcohol dependent at some point in their lifetime.
Falkowski reports in her book about half of all admissions to addiction treatment programs in 1999 were for alcohol.
Because parents drink alcohol and because many were allowed to drink legally at age 18, they tend to overlook drinking as long as the drinker doesnít drive.
Easy to get
Alcohol is easy to get. In surveys, students say they can get drugs within five minutes.
Their primary sources for alcohol are their friends, older brothers and sisters, their dadís and momís liquor cabinet.
Kids are very clever. Some will pay $100 for a clean urine sample, and some will fill up the used portion of a liquor bottle with water.
Experts warn that smoking tobacco can lead to early drinking and drug use.
Even though 50 states prohibit smoking by minors under age 18, the percentage of people 12 to 17 who smoke is 13.4 per cent.
More than 430,000 people die from tobacco-related disease and more than 100,000 from causes related to alcohol abuse.
ìIf you can stop young people from smoking cigarettes, you can reduce the likelihood they will use other drugs,î Falkowski said.
One study showed that 55 percent of kids who smoke cigarettes also use alcohol.
Of all substances of abuse, she said, more than 400,000 die from smoking-related diseases a year.
Marijuana use
Kids who smoke and drink alcohol are more likely to use marijuana.
The National Anti-Drug Program reports that marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug among Americaís youth. ìTwo-thirds of the new marijuana users each year are between the ages of 12 and 17, while the number of eighth graders who have tried marijuana has doubled within the last decade, from one in 10 to one in five,î the National Anti-Drug Program reports.
According to various studies, the report says, marijuana is the most readily available and widely used illicit drug in Minnesota. According to a 2001 study, approximately 39,000 youth in Minnesota ages 12-17 reported past month use of marijuana.
Parents need to realize that use of marijuana, particularly over a long term, can cause the same changes in the brain as do cocaine, heroin and alcohol. It impairs the ability of young people to concentrate and retain information, particularly during peak learning years when the brain is developing.
Marijuana can increase anxiety, panic attacks and depression. One study associated anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide with marijuana use in the past year.
It can negatively affect skills required to drive safely: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination and the ability to react quickly. This increases the likelihood of crashes due to reckless driving. A roadside study of reckless drivers who were not impaired by alcohol found that 45 percent tested positive for marijuana.
Marijuana also can negatively affect academic work. Research has also found that youths with an average grade of ìDî or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year as youth who reported an average grade of A.
It is one reason why kids skip school.
Kids who smoke marijuana weekly drop out of school, take risks and behave violently.
Adolescent marijuana use is associated with social withdrawal, increased delinquency, rebelliousness and poorer family relationships. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University says teens who use drugs are five times more likely to have sex than are those teens who do not use drugs.
Teens who have used marijuana are four times more likely to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant than those who have never smoked pot.
Despite all this evidence, 30 percent of teens believe occasional marijuana use is not harmful and nearly 40 percent of teens associated smoking marijuana with popularity.
ìDrug abuse today is significantly different than it was when today's parents were teenagers. There are more drugs available and the children are using at younger ages,î Falkowski said.
ìAll the more reason for parents to pay attention, stay up-to-date, and be involved.î
Next week: A look at how parents can set rules for their kids and follow through.
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