Susan Merrill

“Everyone drinks!”  Have your kids told you this?  I guess mine have had to tell me more than once because I find it so hard to believe that everyone has access to alcohol.

I’m wrong.  My kids would say “I told you so!”  if they read the report in the iMOM Current News this week. 

According to a recent survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it’s surprisingly easy for young people (ages 12 to 20) to get their hands on alcohol.  30% of the kids who drink bought the alcohol themselves; 70% got the alcohol for free from someone else. Free?! How is this possible?

Here’s how the survey breaks it down:

14% of kids who drink got their alcohol from another underage person: a friend or maybe a friend-of-a-friend.  6% got it from a parent or guardian. How could a responsible parent give alcohol to their own child?  I don’t understand. 

8.5 percent got their alcohol from a family member aged 21 or older: a college sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle or other relative.

And, are you ready for this? More than one in four young people obtained alcohol for free from a non-relative, aged 21 or over.  Who are these people who are providing children with alcohol? And for what motive? That’s what’s most scary to me.

Moms, we need to be aware of the easy accessibility our teens and pre-teens have to alcohol. And most importantly, we need to talk to our kids about the dangers of alcohol addiction and abuse. Young people who drink are more likely to be the victim of violence, or become violent themselves; more likely to be the victim of a sexual assault or to have unprotected sex; susceptible to alcohol poisoning and loss of consciousness, more likely to suffer injury, break the law or get into trouble with police; and more likely have difficulty in school, to name just a few.

So warn your kids that even experimenting with alcohol, or accepting drinks from friends or strangers can have serious consequences. Teach them how to say no.