Parents warned about alcohol

Alcohol-related deaths outnumber deaths from drug use 4-to-1, yet parents are less concerned about their teenagers using alcohol than drugs, according to a new study.

While alcohol-related deaths vastly outnumber deaths from illicit drugs in America, 21 percent of parents fear their teenagers using drugs, while 5 percent fear teenage abuse of alcohol, according to a report by the non-profit organization Drug Strategies.

That is due to effective public-awareness campaigns about the dangers of drugs, according to a report titled “Millennium Hangover: Keeping Score on Alcohol.”

Drug Strategies, a Washington-based research group, said the media ought to give equal attention to alcohol abuse, which the report termed “America’s most pervasive drug problem.”

Though its ill consequences are less recognized, alcohol abuse is more widespread than abuse of illicit drugs, Drug Strategies said.

Of the nation’s 113 million drinkers, 10 million are underage and 33 million “binge drink,” or have more than five drinks at one time. An estimated 14 million Americans need treatment for alcohol problems, the report said.

Alcohol’s consequences also cost society more money than drugs, the report continued. Estimated costs for alcohol abuse in America due to health problems, accidents, crime and “lost productivity” total $167 billion annually.

“Even though the costs of alcohol abuse to society are 50 percent greater than all illicit drug abuse costs combined, voters are not telling elected officials that alcohol abuse presents a pressing problem,” the report maintained.

More federal money is allocated for research on illicit drugs than for research on alcohol. There is an Office of National Drug Control Policy, but there is no similar federal program for alcohol abuse.

The report calls alcohol the “drug of choice” among teens, used more than all illicit drugs combined. While less than half (42 percent) of parents said they thought their children had consumed alcohol, a majority of teenagers (79 percent) said they had, according to a Hart Research poll cited in the report.

Alcohol abuse contributes to 7 out of 10 child-abuse cases, the report continued.