From The Missionary's Desk

 

There are about 581,401 young people in Alabama. Of these 47,208 have serious alcohol problems. These young people are:
      9.4 times more likely to drink and drive
      8.5 times more likely to have serious problems with drugs 
      5.5 times more likely to be arrested
      2.25 times more likely to smoke
      1.5 times more likely to miss twice as much school
      1.5 times more likely to require hospital emergency room care 
      5 times more likely to attempt suicide 
      4.5 times more likely to get into a serious fight
      3.5 times more likely to carry a weapon 
      3 times more likely to have mental health problems 
      3 times more likely to have a conduct disorder
      1.5 times more likely to get into an accident  
      Almost twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners
          http://www.alcoholcostcalculator.org/kids/          

          Source: National Comorbidity Survey
 
One thing for sure the alcohol man is after your kids! On both the big and small screens (TV and computer), alcohol is highly visible to young people. The Federal Trade Commission reported that eight of the largest alcohol companies had made product placements in "PG" and "PG-13"-rated movies with primarily young audiences, and on eight of the 15 television shows most popular with teenagers. A 2002 Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) survey found that more than 73 percent of teens ages 12 to 18 had seen alcohol beverage television advertisements after 9 p.m. on school nights, including 71 percent of youths ages 12 to 13. A study of alcohol advertising in a sample of 35 magazines, 1997 to 2001, found that beer and distilled liquor ads appeared more frequently in magazines with higher adolescent readership and that this advertising was "increasing exponentially as adolescent readership increased." Illustrating the fact that advertisers "may be aware of adolescent consumption demographics," The authors pointed out that wine advertising was associated with higher income adults and young adult readership. Ads for wine do not appear in magazines with youth readership - producers know who is and should be drinking their product and advertise accordingly. An analysis of 289,381 alcohol ad placements on television in 2002 found that youth 12-20 saw two beer and distilled spirits ads on television for every three seen by adults and nearly three ads for low alcohol refreshers for every four seen by the adults.

The study concludes that the alcohol industry's voluntary guidelines for alcohol ad placements are inadequate and allow for alcohol ads to be placed on programs where there are twice as many youth as in the viewing population. During the past two decades the alcohol industry has invested heavily in production and promotion of drinks that will appeal to youth - "alcopops," pre-mixed cocktails and "energy drinks"- sweet, energy drinks, fruity drinks with high alcohol content at an affordable price. The brand names of these drinks, which blur the distinction between alcohol and soft drinks, are far more likely to be recognized by teenagers than by adults.
 

Source: http://alcoholpolicymd.com -- ALCOHOL INDUSTRY101 ITS STRUCTURE &    ORGANIZATION - YOUTH MARKETING Page 17