According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), underage drinking is a major problem in the United States that worsens on holidays, especially on New Year’s Day. Underage drinking often leads to trips to the emergency room, due to overconsumption of alcohol or alcohol-related accidents or injuries.
The report says that the number of emergency room visits by underage drinkers was significantly higher on New Year’s Day in 2009 than on several other holidays and average days during the year.
According to the report, there were 1,980 emergency room visits involving underage drinkers on New Year’s Day in 2009. This was more than twice the daily average over the Fourth of July weekend, which was 942.
Underage drinkers also made more than three times the number of emergency room visits on New Year’s Day in 2009 than the daily average over Memorial Day weekend.
Compared to an average day during the year, the number of emergency visits by underage drinkers was 263 percent higher on New Year’s Day in 2009.
Pamela S. Hyde, JD, SAMHSA administrator, said that the findings should be a wake-up call to parents and other adults, who should pay more attention to young people’s drinking activities, especially during this time of year.
Kenneth R. Warren, PhD, acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said that two to three times more people die in alcohol-related crashes during the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and 40 percent of traffic fatalities during this time involve a driver who is impaired by alcohol, compared to 28 percent in the earlier weeks of December.
SAMHSA says that parents should talk with their children early and often about the dangers of drinking alcohol, and that parents, teachers, and other influential adults should talk to children about how alcohol impacts physical and mental health. Parents should also be aware that young people tend to drink more on New Year’s than other times of the year.
Source: WebMD, Bill Hendrick, Underage Drinking Soars on New Year’s Day, December 30, 2010
