IWA for Sunday 093007

Advocate for Underage Drinking.

Hey folks,

Yup You read that correctly. This weeks winner is an advocate for you to allow your underage kids to drink alcohol at social events and family functions. Seriously?

According to Stopalcoholabuse.Gov

Current illicit drug use has declined among the nation’s adolescents, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced today. The rate of adolescents ages 12 to 17 acknowledging drug use in the past month dropped from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2006. This level is similar to the level in 2005 (9.9 percent).

This initial report from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) also indicates use of cigarettes decreased from 2002 to 2006 for people ages 18 to 25. However, the level of underage drinking, ages 12 to 20, remained unchanged since 2002, at 28.3 percent in 2006.

So our kids are getting away from more and more illicit drugs and even Cigarettes, yet they are still drinking. Some reports show that this has even slightly increased. Turn on the TV, read the paper, listen to your local news. Inevitably, you will hear or see how another youth wrapped his car around a telephone pole, killing himself, or passengers, or how another youth died of Alcohol poisoning at a party.

This is a big problem. So what is this weeks winner’s suggestion in combating this? Let them drink young.

According to CNN -Author: Letting kids drink early reduces binging By Jennifer Pifer

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Over dinner recently, Anna Peele recalls one of the first times she drank alcohol. I was like 14 or 15, Peele says. I ordered a beer and they served me.

She had just finished her freshman year of high school and was traveling in Greece with family friends. We would just have wine with dinner, Peele says. In Greece it's so not a big deal.
While that experience would cause some American parents to worry, Peele's parents weren't upset.

In fact, starting in middle school, her parents allowed her and her siblings to have an occasional sip of beer or wine. By the time she was in high school, Peele was drinking beer and wine regularly at family functions and social events. But it was always in moderation, Peele says. She says her parents' attitude toward alcohol made it seem less mysterious. It wasn't some forbidden fruit, Peele says. I didn't have to go out to a field with my friends and have 18 beers.

Experts say binge drinking continues to be a growing problem across the country. According to a recent report from the U.S. surgeon general, there are nearly 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million are considered binge drinkers, meaning they drank more than five drinks in one sitting.

In this age of just say no, some people believe it is time for Americans to reconsider how they teach kids about alcohol. Peele's father is at the top of the list.

Yeah, just give it to them. Idiot.

We taught them to drink in a civilized fashion, like a civilized human being, says Stanton Peele, psychologist and author of Addiction-Proof Your Child.

He says many of the programs set up to stop alcohol abuse contribute to the teen binge-drinking crisis. Any program that tells kids flatly not to drink creates temptation, he says. Preparing your child to drink at home lessens the likelihood that they are going to binge drink, he says. Not sharing alcohol with your child is a risk factor for binge drinking.

So I guess this is the same psycho-babble as saying, teaching abstinence only encourages them to have sex. So let them. Give them condoms. Well, now, according to Dr. Idiot, give them alcohol too. Hey “Sex drugs and rock and roll is BACK ”

Peele says other cultures have figured it out. He points to Italy, Greece and Israel, where children are given small amounts of wine at religious celebrations or watered-down alcohol on special occasions.

But many other experts say the psychologist is off base. That's ridiculous, says Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. By allowing teens to drink, Fay says, you are giving permission to your children to do harmful things.

ABSOLUTELY

In the spring of 2007, the U.S. surgeon general's office issued its first Call to Action to stop underage drinking. This is not something that is a rite of passage, says acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu. It has an impact, short term and long term.

When I went to medical school, Moritsugu says, the science at that time told us that our brains had finished developing at 2 or 2 and a half. Over the past few decades ... science shows our brains continue to develop well into our mid-20s .

We also NEVER stop learning. If we hinder our minds with altering substances like drugs and alcohol, we also hinder that ability to learn and develop.

Fay also says Stanton Peele doesn't take into account other consequences of teen drinking, such as unsafe sex and drunken driving. You don't have to be addicted to be harmed or die because of drugs and alcohol.

Like I said.

But the psychologist contends that kids are going to drink no matter what and that it is critical for parents to set the example. I think the key to preventing all kinds of addiction is to make sure that your child values life, values himself and has purpose in life, he says. That's the single most important thing.

Now 19, Anna Peele is a sophomore at New York University. She wants to be an actress. She does drink with her friends, but she says that it's always in moderation and that she is well aware of her responsibilities. Your parents expect you to do your work and get the most out of your education. ... They're not paying for us to drink.

{Sigh}

Why stop there? Seriously. Why stop with alcohol. They are going to smoke weed. {Some} Why not give them that. What about Cigarettes? A lot of kids try them. You know as well as I do, that a lot of kids get hooked on them. I’ve been smoking since I was 14. In between quitting that is. So why not just buy them a carton?

Dr. Stanton Peele, you are the reason MANY people see your field as nothing more than Liberal psycho-babble bunk. To actively call on parents to not only allow, but to encourage their children to do that which is harmful, and possibly deadly for them to do, shows us that you sir, do NOT have their best interests in mind. Maybe you are attempting to be controversial to sell your book. Maybe you are attempting to be famous. Maybe you TRULY believe this garbage you are spouting. But whatever the reason, one thing is a guarantee, you are the Idiot of the Week.
Peter

Source:
CNN -Author: Letting kids drink early reduces binging
Stopalcoholabuse.Gov