What You Should Know.

Why 21?

  • An adolescent may become addicted to alcohol in as little as 6 to 18 months. The adolescent’s central nervous system and brain are not fully developed and are especially sensitive to alcohol and drugs. Addiction happens much faster.
  • Recent research by the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated that teens who abuse alcohol have brains that are 10% smaller than teens who don’t drink.
  • The risk for alcohol dependency decreases by 14% with each year drinking is delayed after the age of 15. Research shows the longer you delay the onset of alcohol use with a young person, the less likely they are to experience problems with use later in life.
  • Youth who are drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become dependent than those who wait until age 21.
  • Youth who are drinking alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine and 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug than young people who never drink alcohol.
  • The U.S. Surgeon General reports that life expectancy has improved in the U.S. over the past 75 years for every age group except one. The death rate for 15 to 24-year-olds is higher today than it was 20 years ago. The leading cause of death is drunk and drugged driving.
  • Twenty-four percent of 8th graders and 51% of high school seniors reported using alcohol in the past 30 days. Almost half of these 8th graders and nearly 65% of the seniors were drunk in the past 30 days. Less that 22% of seniors perceived drinking two or three alcoholic drinks every day to be a great risk.
  • 2.6 million teenagers don’t know a person can die from an alcohol overdose.
  • During a typical weekend, an average of one teenager dies per hour in an automobile crash. Nearly 50% of those crashes involve alcohol.
  • Alcohol is involved in more than 40% of all academic problems and 28% of all dropouts.
  • Among high school students, alcohol or other drug use is the best predictor of early sexual activities and failure to use contraceptives.

Special thanks to the Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth and MADD Alabama for providing some of this information.