Junior and senior high school students drink 35 percent of all wine coolers sold in the United States and 1.1 billion cans of beer each year. More than 3 million students drink alone, more than 4 million drink when they are upset, and nearly 3 million drink because they are bored. More than half of the 20.7 million 7th through 12th grade students nationwide drink. Eight million drink weekly. Those who binge average more than 13 beers a week.
Teenagers lack essential knowledge about alcohol.
Very few are getting clear and reliable information about its intoxicating effects, relative strengths, and laws governing its use. The alcohol beverage industry's voluntary advertising standards and codes are value, narrow, inconsistent, and unenforceable. We must teach our children that alcohol is a drug. This reproducible fact sheet is provided by the Connecticut Clearinghouse, a program of Wheeler Clinic, Inc. which is funded by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.