Teen alcohol law aimed at saving lives

Some say Utah's new underage drinking and driving laws are very strict. They are absolutely right. They also say the Legislature should roll back current law and replace it with language that is more forgiving of young people who drink and drive.

They are dead wrong.

Here's why.

The latest scientific research reveals that underage drinking is not a harmless rite of passage, but in reality has wide scale repercussions leaving social debris and misery throughout Utah, severely taxing our limited state resources. The Legislature, by adding additional sanctions to the already existing "Not-A-Drop" underage drinking law, has served a wake-up call to kids who drink — and the adults who facilitate it — to help protect our youths from what can easily become a lifetime of addiction.

Alcohol negatively impacts a teen's developing brain, harming memory, good judgment, white-matter formation and the pleasure-reward center, which can lead to addiction. Some 49 percent of kids who start drinking at age 15 will become alcohol dependent. And 67 percent of those will go on to use hard drugs. As alcohol misuse increases, so does delinquency, teenage pregnancy, fetal alcohol syndrome, school failure, addiction and alcohol impaired driving.

Currently in Utah there are 17,000 binge drinkers in grades 6-12 and an estimated 10,000 ages 19-20, totaling about 27,000 binge drinkers under 21. We have 16,000 addicted kids in Utah under 18, and only 2,500 treatment slots. What will become of the remaining 13,500?

As addiction increases, so does crime, violence and child abuse. In all, 85 percent of prison inmates are suffering from addictions or were influenced by alcohol or drugs during their crimes, and 30 percent of child abuse or neglect cases involve parents on alcohol or drugs. The root of these crimes usually points to underage drinking.

At every BAC level, those under 21 are at an elevated crash risk, with 16- to 20-year-old males being the highest relative fatality risk.

Most kids in Utah won't be affected by increased sanctions passed by the Legislature in 2009. Sixty-three percent of high school seniors report they have never tried alcohol. Eighty-three percent of them report not having any alcohol in the last 30 days. The only kids affected by SB272 are those who choose to break the law by drinking and driving. At least 50 percent of the Not-A-Drop citations are repeat offenders. They need more serious consequences to get their attention.

Of the 12th-graders that drank alcohol (reported in the 2009 Sharp Survey), 31.9 percent reported using alcohol at home with a parent's permission, 42 percent reported using it at someone else's home with their parent's permission and 20 percent reported getting alcohol at a restaurant, bar or nightclub.

Underage drinking brings with it a huge risk of addiction, brain impairment, increased alcohol impaired crashes and a host of social ills that negatively affect the entire state. The social cleanup costs are staggering. Not-A-Drop driving laws have been instituted across this country to save lives among our youths. Since 1988, it is estimated over 25,000 young lives have been saved because of these very strict laws.

Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, is the president of the Utah Senate.