"Who's bringing the booze?"
Angel Torres, 16, a student at Hardaway High School, says that is the first question asked when it is learned a teen whose parents are going to be away is throwing a party.
Angel said some students plan the social event "weeks in advance."
It is not a situation unique to Hardaway. It is a familiar scene at high schools across the country.
Though many drugs are used by teens these days, alcohol, especially vodka, is most prevalent at this school, students questioned said.
Getting alcohol is not difficult, they say. Some teens use fake IDs. Some get somebody older to buy it. Some even get it from their parents.
Angel said some students look much older than are.
"Some look like grown men," said Jeniah Johnson, 17. "They know which stores to go to where they know they won't be asked for identification."
Youths drinking alcohol is a serious problem.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that though drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, those between the ages of 12 and 20 drink 11 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States.
The CDC says drinking alcohol is responsible for more than 4,700 annual deaths among youths. In 2010, approximately 189,000 people under 21 visited emergency rooms with injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol. The 2011 Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 33 percent of eighth graders and 70 percent of 12th graders had tried alcohol.
Sgt. Donald M. Bush, who coordinates the Columbus Police Department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education for the crime prevention division, said he implores high school students to "be selfish" and refuse to ride with peers who drink and drive.
He said alcohol use among teens spikes at certain times of the year, including football season, prom and graduation.
As for getting the alcohol, Bush remarked, "You've got booze in the refrigerator, you've got booze in the cabinet. Let's be real. We as parents need to monitor that."
Angel said there is a lot of peer pressure to use drugs or alcohol.
Tristan Griffis, 16, agreed, saying that "some are not strong enough to resist."
When asked by others why she does not drink, Jeniah replies, "Because I have a future."
Luke Kozarski, 17, knows people whose lives have been ruined by alcohol.
It is, he said, the reason he is determined not to drink.
The students said some parents provide alcohol.
Professional drug counselor John Doheny III works with many teens who have run into trouble because of alcohol. He agreed that some parents are enablers.
He tells the story of one parent preparing her daughter for what she would likely experience in college by letting her drink alcohol. Doheny asked the mother if she was doing the same with sex and marijuana.
Doheny said that marijuana is usually referred to as the gateway drug that leads to cocaine and meth.
"Tobacco and alcohol are the gateway drugs," Doheny said, adding that he has seen children as young as 12 in detox programs.
He said alcohol and other drugs can adversely affect the adolescent brain, which is still developing.
Children using alcohol are more likely to experience social problems. They may fight. They might show a lack of participation in activities. Their grades are likely to drop. They are more likely to be involved in sexual activity, some of it unwanted or unprotected.
"If you ask your child how they are spending their time and they say they are just 'hanging out,' then you likely have a problem," Doheny said. "They need to be involved in something. Just hanging out is not good."
Teen Challenge International has an adolescent girls program in Seale, Ala. It is a Christian boarding school providing a 15-month education, counseling and training program for 60 girls ages 13-17 who have life-controlling problems and have entered into a destructive lifestyle.
One of the students, a 16-year-old, said her father would give her sips of alcohol when she was only 6 years old, and she moved on from alcohol to other drugs.
Another said she didn't drink after seeing her mother die from an alcohol problem. She said the drinking "didn't look like fun." Still, she moved on to marijuana when she began dating a dealer.
The girls said some teens drink and use drugs for a thrill but many use it to mask pain.
While alcohol may not be the most popular drug anymore for use by teens, the girls all said plenty of teens with whom they attended school did drink.
"A lot parents who are 'social drinkers' don't seem to think it will hurt their children," one girl said. "Some of them remember drinking when they were teens and they survived."
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