Troubled Teens Resources

Troubled teenagers surely do not need any encouragement from big corporations to experiment with alcohol. Teen age drug abuse is difficult enough to prevent without greasing the tracks towards addiction with attractive packaging and seductive advertising on easily available alcohol products.

Parents have been getting upset about outfits like Budweiser offering products that certainly seem to target teens. (We wrote about it here.) Whether that was their intent - which they deny - or not is irrelevant. Teens certainly are the audience such advertising and packaging attracts.

Upset parents, however, can obtain some satisfaction from the results of their widespread protest.

“Anheuser-Busch’s recent decision to pull its fruity Spykes drink mixers from the market represents the latest in a series of significant victories by the addiction field in confronting what advocates consider irresponsible marketing by big corporations.”

Parents efforts to combat the media’s assault on their target demographic have produced results in other arenas as well.

“The campaign, launched around the Christmas holidays, resulted in retailers like Target, Kohl’s, and Linens n’ Things halting sales of these games as well as another called “Drinko,” an alcohol-fueled version of TV’s “Plinko.” The Oregon Partnership also spearheaded a campaign to get beer-related t-shirts pulled from the shelves of Macy’s stores last October.”

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Do not ever hesitate to let your feelings and objections be known to those companies and advertisers who seem to have little hesitation targeting their alcohol and lifestyle ads at teens.

Parents with troubled teens have their hands full and they certainly do not need manufacturers like Reef coming up with cutesy ideas like this one.

“Just in time for summer: flip-flops with a secret compartment for booze. “Kids wear flip-flops to school and all over the place,” said Mike Gimbel, former drug czar for Baltimore County and director of substance abuse education at Sheppard Pratt. “You would never know the kid was walking around with vodka in the bottom of their shoe.”

Manufactured by surf and sandal company Reef, the flip-flops can hold about one ounce of liquor in each shoe and come with a miniature funnel and measuring bar.
[..]
Pointing to the imprint of a mixer on the shoe’s sole and images of a metal flask on a tag — and the capacity of the canteen — Gimbel said the company is clearly promoting alcohol use.”
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Perhaps the folks at Reef need to read the statistics on teenage drug and alcohol abuse.

• Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among young people.
• Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.
• Youth who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young people who never drink alcohol.
• 40% of those who started drinking at age 14 or younger later developed alcohol dependence, compared with 10% of those who began drinking at age 0 or older.
• 65% of the youth who drink alcohol report that they get the alcohol they drink from family and friends.
• By the 8th grade, 5% of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 1% have smoked cigarettes, and 0% have used marijuana.
• 50% of high school seniors report drinking alcohol in the past 30 days with 32% report being drunk at least once in the same period.
• Drivers age 21–29 drive the greatest proportion of their miles drunk. (Miller et al., 1996c)
• Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for all persons age 6–33. About 55% of these fatalities are alcohol-related crashes.

“I, too, am tired of seeing the crosses on the side of the road everywhere you go in this county,” Barsanti said. “Part of that is I think we kind of dropped the ball on teenage alcohol abuse.”

Perhaps that is the problem. First time offenders, be they teenage pot smokers or troubled teens in for their first alcohol related offense,too frequently return to home and school without any sense of paying the price or having had to undergo uncomfortable consequences.

“Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti detailed Thursday a countywide initiative aimed at 17- to 21-year-old who have run afoul of police or school authorities for the second time for drinking or occasional use of marijuana.

These young adults weren’t scared straight by their first misstep and need a tougher consequence, as well as counseling, officials said.”

Teen Crisis Intervention

This new method of teen crisis intervention mimics the highly regarded Geneva program in Illinois which has been noted for effectively turning back the tide on teenage drug and alcohol abuse.

“Anecdotally, Geneva police said they saw a change about four years into the program. Repeat calls to the same houses dropped off. Teens stopped loitering in groups in parking lots. Vandalism and car break-ins dropped. The trend of reduced crime has continued along with the intervention program, said Baker, a sergeant on the Geneva Police Department.”

Instead of “slap on the wrist”, second time offenders face a united network of school,courts, police and parents - the first such program to emphasize having parties working in union as a united front to thwart further adventures into drugs and alcohol.

Consequences

“Where Geneva used as threats potential police consequences such as city tickets for smoking, curfew violations, truancy and disorderly conduct for youths, prosecutors will use potential criminal charges for possession of liquor or drugs.

The threat put weight behind the rules of parents and police. Failure to stop threatening parents, attend school, stay clean or attend counseling can result in charges being filed.”
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