Underage Drinking Article

[James]

NEW YORK (CNN) - The problem of binge drinking begins well before
teenagers set foot on a college campus, according to researchers at
Columbia University...

The researchers said many parents are "unwitting coconspirators," whose
ambivalence contributes to the problem of teen drinking...

The twoyear study concluded that kids are trying their first drinks at
younger ages. Thirtysix percent of the high school graduating class of 1999
began using alcohol in eighth grade or even earlier, researchers found. For
the class of 1975, that number was 27 percent, they noted....

...the study did not conclude that the overall number of student drinkers is
on the rise...

Underage drinkers consumed as much as $27 billion worth of alcohol in 1998
- $15 billion on beer alone. That represents about a quarter of all alcohol
sold in the United States that year.

The authors call their report "the most ambitious assessment of the extent
and consequences of underage drinking in America."

Researchers analyzed existing data and surveyed 900 adults on their
attitudes toward underage drinking.