Students Need Lesson in Alcohol Avoidance

When we think of getting our kids ready for school, we usually think of buying school supplies or making sure they have the right health forms. But if you have kids in high school or college, you should also include talking about alcohol and other drug use, experts say.

“Parents need to have an open dialogue and talk honestly,” said Ruth Sanchez-Way, director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. “It should be part of an ongoing dialogue, when they start school and all through the year.”

Why? Here are some statistics:

About 10.4 million kids ages 12 to 20 said they consumed alcohol, according to a 1998 government survey. Of those, close to half were binge drinkers, defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for males and four or more for females. More than 2 million said they binged at least five times a month.

The average college student spends about $900 a year on alcohol or drugs, about twice what he or she spends on books, according to the Core Institute, a nonprofit group that gathers information on college drinking and drug practices.

Frequent binge drinkers are eight times more likely to miss a class, fall behind in schoolwork, get hurt or damage property, according to a 1998 Harvard School of Public Health survey.

About 159,000 of first-year college students will drop out of school for alcohol-or drug-related reasons, according to the Core Institute.

About 16% of teenagers say they have had a blackout because of heavy binge drinking, according to a 1998 release from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

More than 60% of college males and about half of college females who are frequent binge drinkers say they drink and drive, according to a 1995 report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Heavy drinking is the primary cause of date rape, car accidents, campus violence and student deaths, according to Phoenix House, the substance abuse and treatment agency located in New York, Texas and California.

For many baby boomers who grew up in the druggie ‘60s and ‘70s, an “honest dialogue” may open up some areas in their own pasts they’d rather forget.

But Sanchez-Way and others say it’s absolutely essential that parents confront the issue openly. Talk to them about the possible consequences, physically and legally, of drinking or drug use. If you don’t know the answer to your child’s questions, do some research and find the answers. For kids still at home, Sanchez-Way suggests the following:

* Monitor and be a part of your child’s life.

* Make rules--and the consequences for breaking them--clear.

* Know where they are and with whom.

* If your child is going to a party, make sure an adult is on hand, no alcohol is being served and no drugs are around, Sanchez-Way said.

* On the other hand, if your children find themselves in a situation where drugs and alcohol are available, tell them you’ll come get them “no questions asked.”

* Be a good role model. Having a parent or guardian who is a heavy drinker or drug user increases a child’s chance of being an abuser--and at an earlier age.

* Listen to your child and encourage him or her to ask questions. “Don’t overreact. Don’t get emotional. Try to stay calm,” Sanchez-Way advised.

* Practice lines your child can use that will give him or her a way out if offered a drink or drugs. “My parents would kill me” and “My parents would take away the car” are good examples.

Clearly the issues are different when a child goes off to college and parents aren’t around. But communication is still key, said Angela Zinzi, director of the Facts on Tap Program, a campaign affiliated with Phoenix House that targets alcohol abuse on campus.

“Change always brings on crisis,” Zinzi said. “A new environment, suddenly being on the bottom of the totem pole” can make it easy for a freshman to turn to alcohol or drugs, she said. “Alcohol especially is a social lubricant; it can seem like an instant way to meet people,” she said.

But kids need to know there are other ways besides getting smashed to have a good time, Zinzi said. Parents should help their kids find out where the support systems are on the campus: who their dorm resident advisor is, who their advisor is, what kind of counseling services are offered. They should be encouraged to join clubs or organizations.

“No one is expecting them not to go to parties, but they need to understand there is a healthier way to experience things besides drinking to get drunk,” Zinzi said.

Parents also have to learn to listen “with a different ear” than when their children were younger, she said. The college kid needs to know “there’s open communication and that you’re willing to hear what they’re saying and not judge,” Zinzi said.

For more information about alcohol-related issues, go to https://www.factsontap.org. The government also has a wealth of information. Call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, (800) 729-6686, or go to the Web site, https://www.health.org.