Underage Drinking

Alcohol Impairs the Adolescent Brain...
The American Medical Association recently released a report which contains extensive scientific and medical information showing how harmful drinking is to the developing brain.

  • Adolescent drinkers scored worse than non-users on vocabulary, general information, memory, and memory retrieval. 
  • The scores of alcohol users on test of verbal and non-verbal information recall were 10% lower. 
  • Alcohol drinkers performed more poorly in school and had increased social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts, and violence.
  • Alcohol affects the sleep cycle.
  • Alcohol increases risk of stroke among young drinkers. 

For more information, click on the AMA Fact Sheet below:
Underage Drinking is a D.U.M.B. Decision (Drinking Underage Maims the Brain)

Important Words from the American Medical Association:

According to J. Edward Hill, MD, President of the American Medical Association, “Parents allowing underage children to drink under their supervision are under a dangerous misconception.  Injuries and car accidents after such parent-hosted parties remind us that no parent can completely control the actions of intoxicated youth, during or after a party. And the main message children hear is that drinking illegally is okay. "Source: www.ama-assn.org/

Please work in cooperation with 25&Alive, the Independence Police Department, and the schools to make this a joyful time of life and not one of mourning the loss of one of our children.

Helpful Links:

American Medical Association (AMA)
Underage Drinking is a D.U.M.B. Decision

U.S. Department of Justice
Effects and Consequences of Underage Drinking

WebMD.com
Teen Drinking Tied to Bad Choices as Adult

FindLaw.com
Underage Drinking and Social Host Liability in Ohio