Week Two Teen Issue: Underage Drinking/Alcohol Abuse

-More than 8 percent of 8th graders, 16 percent of sophomores, and 24 percent of seniors report recent binge drinking.
-Research indicates that the human brain continues to develop into a person's early 20's, and that exposure of the developing brain to alcohol may have long-lasting effects on intellectual capabilities and may increase the likelihood of alcohol addiction.
-The age when drinking starts affects future drinking problems. For each year that the start of drinking is delayed, the risk of later alcohol dependence is reduced by 14 percent.
-Alcohol use interacts with conditions like depression and stress, and contributes to an estimated 300 teen suicides a year.
-An Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. The number of alcohol-poisoning deaths per year rose from 18 in 1999 to 35 in 2005.