Most teens don’t drink regularly. Why do so many East Texans believe the myth that they do? One of the questions we ask students during alcohol presentations is “What percentage of teens do you think drink regularly?” More often than not, students think that most of their...
As part of National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, we’d like to remind parents about the importance of talking to their children and teens about underage drinking. You may be thinking, “We’re in the middle of a global pandemic, why would I worry about talking to...
By Nathan Grounds In our previous blog post, we gave a cursory summary of the War on Drugs and revealed its failure to curb the American drug epidemic. In this post we’ll discuss the modern approach to addiction, which holds great potential in actually helping people...
By Nathan Grounds I was 7 years old when Toy Story hit theaters. Although I was old enough to know better, the portrayal of walking, talking toys reinvigorated my imagination. I soon found myself speaking to my toys and keeping them on clean, open shelves (rather...
Underage drinking kills more teens than all other illicit drugs combined, about 4,300 annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Prevention Week is this week. Tuesday’s focus is on alcohol. While most people think of car...
When most care givers think about underage drinking, one of the only concerns is that drunk driving is dangerous. Yes, drunk driving is dangerous in all ages, but there are other concerns with underage drinking. (And only one-third of underage drinking deaths involve auto crashes.) We’ve...
Research indicates that brain development is still in progress during adolescence, with significant changes continuing into the early 20s. Immature brain regions place teenagers at elevated risk to the effects of drugs and alcohol. The developing brain of the teenage years may help explain why adolescents...
Summer is a time for kids to experience freedom from school and spend time with friends and family. However, extra free time, lenient rules and less oversight also increases underage drinking. A survey by Caron Treatment Centers reveals 61 percent identified summer as the season kids...
The legal drinking age of 21 doesn’t stop all parents from allowing underage drinking in their homes. In our prevention work, we’ve heard quite a lot of reasons of why parents choose to allow their underage kids to drink. We’ve also found that a lot...
We already know that the teens who are online are already at a greater risk for alcohol use. Compared to teens who spend no time on social media sites in a typical day, teens who do are 5 times more likely to use alcohol. (Click...