Press Release

A Community That Cares Enough to Confront Underage Drinking

By Stephanie Wise Atherton

When I was growing up, it seemed to me that adults did not try very hard to find out what was really going on in the world of teen-agers, to understand the daily pressures or the attitudes and beliefs that shaped kids’ choices and behaviors. When it came to drinking we operated under an unstated, “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Times have changed. Adults today do want to know what it is like for young people, so that we can respond and work together to make their growing up years safer, healthier, and full of opportunity to develop positive identities and futures.

One of the ways we stay in touch with kids in Washington is through Healthy Youth Survey questions that measure health risk behaviors. One of the most alarming local results identified in the last survey (2006) was the high number of students in Kittitas County who reported having a drink in the past month: 4% of 6^th graders, 15% of 8^th graders, 39 percent of 10^th graders, and 42% of 12^th graders. The choice by so many young people to drink despite its illegality and the negative health consequences is further illuminated by this statistic: according to the same survey 40% of 6^th graders, 29% of eighth graders, and 43% of tenth graders believe that there is NO risk or just a slight risk of harming themselves if they drink alcohol nearly every day. These results indicate that often kids in Kittitas County do not have a basic knowledge of the damage alcohol will do to their brains and bodies or about their increased vulnerability to related social, emotional, and physical dangers if they drink.

As we learn more about the challenges kids face today our responsibility to do something about it also increases.

We need to provide information and build skills as first steps for young people to understand why and how to avoid alcohol in their lives. Four out of five county school districts: Easton, Cle Elum, Thorp and Kittitas, now present the excellent science based prevention program LifeSkills in their middle schools, a commendable move by these school boards and administrations to make substance abuse prevention and students’ health a high priority.

Parents, the #1 influence in their children’s lives, have access to many resources that will help them get comfortable talking to their kids about underage drinking, including the Community Network website at www.kccn-dfc.com, and StartTalkingNow.org.

We can each make a difference by supporting alcohol free environments, strengthening and enforcing laws and policies that address underage drinking, and getting involved in other strategies in the local campaign against underage drinking led by the Community Network.

In our county a wide range of parents, professionals, young people and other concerned community members are taking action to create a new culture that will no longer ignore or normalize the use of alcohol by children and adolescents – because this is a community that cares enough to acknowledge and confront the crisis of underage drinking.

Stephanie Wise Atherton has lived in Ellensburg with her family for twenty years. She works as a regional prevention manager for the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

The Kittitas County Community Network/Drug Free Communities Coalition and the Community Network agency, through a federal Drug Free Communities grant, are implementing the “Start Talking Before They Start Drinking” campaign as a community service for parents. For more information go to www.kccn-dfc.com.