TEEN DRINKING SURVEY HAS GOOD, BAD NEWS

CHICAGO -- A survey of teen drinking found good news and bad news -- more
than half of the youths ages 16 to 19 said they drank during the preceding
month, but nearly two-thirds said they always appoint a designated driver.

Still, even the good news in yesterday's study had a twist: 80 percent think
it's fine to drink as long as there is a designated driver, and nearly half
think that designated drivers can still drink.

"We're not impressing on kids the fact that getting drunk can be dangerous,"
said Dr. Richard Heyman, a Cincinnati pediatrician and chairman of the
substance abuse committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics, which
released the study.

The results mirror a much larger government-supported study of 51,000 high
school students released in December.

The telephone survey, conducted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 3, has an margin
of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Both surveys found that teens generally drink to get drunk, with the new
results showing nearly 30 percent down six or more drinks each outing.
Fifty-one percent said they consume between two and five drinks at a
sitting.

"They don't stand around like an adult with their beer in their hand at a
cocktail party. They take a six-pack," Heyman said. "They are mind-altering
drinkers."

Findings include:

Sixty-one percent said they'd consumed alcohol within the preceding month.

Nearly a third mistakenly think a can of beer is less intoxicating than a
shot of vodka.

Boys and girls average about the same number of drinking days a month -- 5.6
days and 5.2 days respectively. Boys are more likely than girls to have had
six or more drinks in the preceding month -- 32 percent vs. 22 percent.

The average age when drinking begins is 14.

Sixty-four percent say they avoid drunken driving by always appointing a
designated driver when drinking with friends.

Eighty percent think it's OK to drink with friends as long as there is a
designated driver.

"Teens have the unfortunate misconception that if they designate a driver,
they can still drink as much as they like," said Dr. Joseph R. Zanga, the
academy's president.

Only 2 percent think designated drivers can drink five or more drinks.
Nineteen percent think one drink is acceptable for a designated driver, and
17 percent think two drinks is OK.

Only about half "agree that a designated driver should not have a drink.
Usually they just mean, 'Someone who drinks less than I do,"' Heyman said.

Checked-by: Don Beck