GET
THE FACTS ON YOUTH ALCOHOL USE. THEY'RE SOBERING.
911
Lifeline Legislation | Youth use of alcohol
in New Jersey is a pervasive and critical public health
problem. Minors faced with a medical emergency stemming
from excessive drinking often hesitate to call for help,
either because of uncertainty or fear of facing legal
charges related to alcohol use and/or possession. Lifeline
legislation encourages young people to call for help
in the event of an alcohol medical emergency. Take
Action
Youth
Alcohol: Keg Registration | Beer kegs remain
one of the most common sources of alcohol at teenage
parties. Parents, other adults – older siblings
or friends – will supply kegs for underage drinkers,
believing there is no way for police to trace the keg
to them. Providing adolescents with beer barrels puts
them at great risk because of excessive drinking, including
binging, that often takes place at keg parties. There
is a way to help stop the free-flowing keg beer that
causes so much harm to youth: keg registration.
Download
Update Take
Action
The Stop
Youth Alcohol Use Series has been developed
in partnership with:
Alcohol
- Youth's #1 drug of choice!
23.6% of NJ's 8th graders
used alcohol in the past 30 days.
12.4% of NJ's 7th graders
used alcohol in the past 30 days.
39% of NJ's 7th and 8th
graders have used alcohol sometime in their lifetime.
Of NJ’s 7th graders
who used alcohol, they reported first use at
age 11.3. 8th graders at 12.
12.7% of NJ’s 7th
and 8th graders used alcohol before age 11 and 20.1%
of NJ's high school students used alcohol before age
13.
About 4 in 5 (79.1 percent)
of NJ's High School students have used alcohol sometime
in their lifetime and nearly one-half (46.5 percent)
used alcohol in the past 30 days.
17.6% of New Jersey's
9th graders, 18% of 10th graders, 34% of 11th graders
report having consumed five or more drinks in a row
in the past 30 days.
A large majority of 8th
graders (62 percent), 10th graders (83 percent) and
12th graders (92 percent) say that it is "fairly
easy" or "very easy" to get alcohol.
27.3% of NJ’s middle
school students rode in a car driven by someone who
had been drinking.
27.5% of NJ’s high
school students rode in a car driven by someone who
had been drinking one or more times during the past
30 days.
16.6% of NJ’s 12th
graders drove a car when they had been drinking alcohol
during the past 30 days.
Only 38.2% of high school
students think people are at great risk of harming
themselves if they have 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks almost
every day.
Only 34.4% of high school
students think people are at great risk of harming
themselves if they have 5 or more drinks of an alcoholic
beverage once or twice each weekend
GET
THE FACTS. THEY'RE SOBERING. POSTERS.
NCADD-NJ would like to help you GET THE FACTS about youth
drinking. These color, glossy 11" x 17" posters
have been made available to help spread the facts to your
family, friends and neighbors. Let's work together to prevent
addiction from taking hold in our children by distributing
the posters in our neighborhoods and communities. Please
consider putting the posters up at schools, meetings, places
of worship and at work.
Posters are available in quantities of 10, 25, 50 and 100
at a small fee of $1.50 per poster including shipping and
can be purchased by visiting our online
store. For additional information please contact
Jackie Gonzalez at 609-689-0121 or email at jgonzalez@ncaddnj.org
In 2000, 30 percent of
15-20 year old drivers who were killed in car crashes
had been drinking. 21 percent in this group were legally
intoxicated.
27.9% of NJ's 7th and 8th
graders who used alcohol in the past 30 days got F's.
28 percent of suicides
ages 9-15 can be attributed to alcohol.
39 percent of high school
boys said it was acceptable to force sex with a girl
who was drunk or high.
Almost 12 percent of adolescent
drinkers (about 1.2 million 7th-12th graders) engage
in alcohol-related physical fighting.
Those who start drinking
before age 14 are eleven times more likely to have ever
been in a fight while drinking or after drinking than
adults who began drinking after the age of 21.
Those who start drinking
before age 14 are twelve times more likely to be injured
while under the influence of alcohol sometime in their
life.
More than 40 percent of
individuals who begin drinking before age 13 will develop
alcohol abuse or alcohol dependency at some point in
their lives.
Statistics last
updated 07/15/08
2005
Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Though the state's 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicates
that risky teen behavior is on the decline, it does not mean
that adults should cease their efforts on the prevention
of suicide, teen drug/alcohol abuse or premarital sex and
just hope that things will automatically continue getting
better. <<download
article>> <<download
summary>><<download
survey>>
Towns Try to Shut Down Teens' Boozy Parties It's Saturday night and teenagers are drinking
alcohol at a friend's house, with no parents in sight.
The party gets out of control, neighbors complain
about the noise and before the kids know it, the
cops are at the door. Whether parents like it or
not, that scenario has become exceedingly common.
Across the nation, two out of three teenagers say
getting alcohol from their homes without their parents'
knowledge is easy, according to national studies.<<download
article>>
GetSmartNJ.com Educates Parents that they are the
Anti Drug
The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s Center
for Prevention Research found that New Jersey parents lack
knowledge of new designer drugs and underestimate the influence
of their children’s friends when it comes to trying
drugs and alcohol. The Partnership's response: a new Public
Service Campaign titled GetSmartNJ.com, which is designed
to level the playing field for parents who find themselves
in uncharted territory and battling unknown enemies. <<go
to GetSmartNJ.com>>
Underage Drinking - Tips for Parents Parents worry they have little control over their
teens' drinking habits, but experts say that's not true. In
fact, many well-intentioned parents are actually driving their
kids to drink. <<download
article>>
Underage Drinking - A National Epidemic Underage drinking is a national
epidemic. Every day, 5,400 kids under
age 16 have their first taste of
alcohol.<<download
article>>
Underage Drinking - Anecdotal Stories By the time police waded through
the empty Budweiser cans and Jack Daniel's bottles,
most of the kids had fled. Left behind was a
floor awash in alcohol and cellphones that no
teenager would ordinarily abandon. <<download
article>>
Underage Drinking - Policy Considerations
Clearly, solutions to underage drinking don't lie solely
within the family. There's plenty government and private
industry can do. Some recommendations from public health
experts. <<download
article>>
Teenage Parties (With or Without Parents) Get Out
of Hand
New York Times journalist, Terry Golway reports that
students in New Jersey are increasingly getting their
introduction to alcohol in their own homes or those of
their friends. <<download
article>>
"There's nothing to do
here. When kids have a weekend free, there's nothing to
do but drink and do drugs."
West Windsor teen, explaining
to the township council why he's against a new ordinance
banning underage drinking on private property. "W.
Windsor Council adopts drinking law"
Trenton Times, Nov. 11 2003.
Parents
"Parents striving to impress
teens with cool behavior, such as buying alcohol for their
children and their children's friends, is relatively common" -
Detective Kelly Godley
"Woman Charged with giving
alcohol to teens; Two boys treated at hospital for alcohol
poisoning" Independent, Dec. 31, 2003.
Media
War against teen drinking is
overkill
"…anecdotal outbreaks
of youthful exuberance hardly constitute an epidemic." Princeton Packet Editorial, Nov 14, 2003
Confronting
New Jersey's Underage Drinking Problem: Increase
the State Alcohol Excise Tax
This paper outlines a proposal to have New Jersey increase
its excise tax on alcohol to create a price barrier to
underage drinking and to use a portion of the additional
revenue for a comprehensive underage drinking program.
The paper documents how many adolescents drink and how
much they consume, one the most alarming facts being
that they account for 20 percent of all alcohol purchased
in the United States.
Confronting
New Jersey's Underage Drinking Problem: Policy Recommendations
This document is a continuation of NCADD-NJ's April 2003
white paper on underage drinking. It proposes policy recommendations
beyond an alcohol tax increase that the agency believes
should be considered in New Jersey to further address this
wide-spread public health problem.
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A DIFFERENCE? THINK AGAIN.
Join
Efforts to Curb Youth Use of Alcohol
By becoming a member of Think
Advocacy, you will participate in encouraging
legislators and State officials to support critical issues
like the ongoing efforts to reduce use of alcohol by New
Jersey's youth.
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - New Jersey
