With the new school year starting back up, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) and Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) have launched a campaign to prevent underage drinking among Tennessee youth.
The state departments’ “Talk. They Hear You.” campaign features “information about alcohol use disorder, risks of underage alcohol consumption, and data on pre and post-pandemic alcohol consumption increases.”
The campaign also contains information on accessing treatment resources through the Tennessee REDLINE, a 24/7/365 resource for substance abuse treatment referrals.
Results from TDMHSAS’ biennial TN Together Student Survey revealed that 30 percent of Tennessee youth (8th, 10th, and 12th graders) reported ever drinking alcohol. The same survey also revealed that six in ten students said it was very easy or fairly easy to obtain alcohol while the age of first alcohol consumption was 13 and a half years old.
“While fentanyl and other illicit drugs get the headlines they rightly deserve, alcohol is still the most misused substance among Tennesseans of all ages because it is so widely available. It’s so important for parents to talk to their children about the real risks of underage drinking,” TDMHSAS Commissioner Marie Williams, LCSW, said in a statement. “We’re so grateful to our partners at TABC, and we are hopeful these messages reach people and make a difference.”
The TDMHSAS and TABC said that parents can take “small steps” to prevent underage drinking among underage teens, including securing alcohol in the home, increasing awareness of risk factors for teen alcohol use, and being positive role models around alcohol consumption.
Alcohol is the most commonly used substance among young people in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency also added, “Studies show a relationship between underage drinking behaviors and the drinking behaviors of adult relatives, adults in the same household, and adults in the same community and state.”
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
