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What It Does
With alcohol legally available to persons over 21 in the United States,
its use is fairly widespread even among those who have not yet reached
the legal age. Alcohol is consumed through drinking liquid forms of beer,
wine and spirits and is known to be an extremely addictive substance.
The immediate consequences include difficulty with motor control, slowed
and impaired decision making and problem solving processes, dehydration,
nausea, equilibrium dysfunction, increased heart rate, and dilated pupils.
On younger drinkers, the developmental process may be slowed, resulting
in physical and mental growth problems. Alcohol users tend to display
impulsiveness, immaturity, and pleasure-seeking behaviors. In some cases,
the user may experience memory loss, liver damage, cardiovascular problems,
and death.
 Infofax
-Alcohol
Arizona Statistics
Alcohol use rates for Arizona high school students have remained at or
below the national average for 1991 through 1995. Rates dropped from 1991
to 1995 in reported drinking in the lifetime and in the past 30 days for
Arizona use. For twelfth graders 1991 lifetime use was 80.9 percent in
1995 use was 72.8 percent with half reporting use in the past 30 days
in 1991 and 43 percent in 1995. Tenth graders dropped from 73.8 percent
to 68.7 percent in lifetime use from 1991 to 1995. The only reported increase
was in alcohol use among sixth graders in the past 30 days. In 1991, the
rates were 3.4 percent and in 1995 13.6 percent, although lifetime use
dropped from 51.1 percent to 32 percent in that same time for sixth graders.
Increased approval or indifference toward peer alcohol
use has been reported in high school students from 1989 to 1995. In 1989,
52.8 percent reported this attitude versus the 66.8 percent reported in
1995. In 1995, parents estimated that 6 percent of Arizona kids used alcohol,
where the actual figures were 11 percent for elementary, 20 percent for
middle school, and 38 percent for high school students. Drunk driving
among Arizona youth dropped 24 percent between 1990-1995. In 1996, 108
(1 percent) pregnant Arizona women 19 or younger reported alcohol use
during pregnancy.
Straight talk about alcohol
"On New Year's Eve of this last year, my cousin died in a drunk driving
accident. I was out, and I had to take a friend home, and on the way back,
there was an accident in the road. I didn't know what had happened but
I didn't really think about it. Two days later, I found out it was my
cousin. He was walking across the road and was hit by a drunk driver and
killed instantly. He left behind a pregnant wife and two children 10 and
2."
Drinking
and Driving
Other Web Resources
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