Data indicates that one third of people who received treatment for alcohol abuse reported their first intoxication being between the ages of 15 and 17
(PRWEB) April 20, 2005 -- In 2002 there were more than 680,000 people who received treatment due to alcohol being the primary substance abused, and more than a third of them reported having gotten drunk for the first time between the ages of 15 and 17. This data comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations Treatment Episode Data Set.
This report also showed that 37 percent of the group became intoxicated before the age of 14. In all, nearly 90 percent of people in treatment for alcohol abuse that year reported getting drunk before the legal drinking age of 21.
Of the more than 22 million people in need of treatment in the United States, nearly 15 million list alcohol as the primary substance, and only a fraction of them actually receive it.
I was 16 the first time I got drunk," reports Lucas, who at 27 has now been clean and sober for over five years, My drinking escalated through the latter part of high school and I eventually dropped out of college twice because of my alcohol abuse. Everything else took a back seat to drinking."
As a graduate of the Narconon Arrowhead Drug Rehabilitation and Education Program, Lucas is now a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor and Narconon Prevention Specialist helping prevent kids from going down the same road he and too many others traveled.
I am very grateful for my family and for Narconon," he says. The Narconon program is based on the research and developments of American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbards drug-free rehabilitation methodology.
Drug and alcohol education and prevention efforts are the primary factor in keeping our nations youth from becoming statistics, and the responsibilities lies with parents, teachers, ministers and other family and friends, not just anti-drug organizations who work at it full-time.
There are only a few times a year when drug and alcohol use is thrust into the national spotlight, and April is one of them since it is Alcohol Awareness Month. Other times include National Recovery Month in September and Red Ribbon Week at the end of October, where the focus is on education and prevention.
For more information or to get help for a loved one in need, contact Narconon Arrowhead today at 1-800-468-6933. You may also visit www.stopaddiction.com and www.alcohol-addiction.org.
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