Kids Drink 11.4 Percent of U.S. Booze

Underage drinkers account for 11.4 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the U.S., according to Teen Tipplers: America's Underage Drinking Epidemic, a new report released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

NOTE: After the CASA report was widely distributed by the news media, the government agency issued a statement saying it had not applied the "usual statistical techniques" in deriving it's 25 percent estimate. CASA changed the estimate to 11.4 percent, which it claims is low due to under-reporting.

The report found that more than five million high schoolers (31 percent) say they binge drink at least once a month. The gender gap in alcohol consumption that for generations separated girls and boys has disappeared among younger teens: male and female ninth graders are just as likely to drink (40 percent vs. 41 percent) and to binge drink (22 percent vs. 20 percent), the news release said.

The Distilled Spirits Council challenged the CASA report as "blatantly flawed. "Under CASA's flawed interpretation, each American teenager and young adult who illegally drinks alcohol would have to consume 120 drinks per month, a massive error in fact and the wrong conclusion," DSC Senior Vice President Frank Coleman told reporters.

Here are some quotes from the CASA press release:

"Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in America," says Joseph A. Califano Jr., CASA president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. "Alcohol damages the young brain, interferes with mental and social development and interrupts academic progress. Alcohol is the fatal attraction for many teens, a major factor in the three leading causes of teen death - accidents, homicide and suicide."

"Alcohol is far and away the top drug of abuse for American kids" says Susan Foster, CASA vice-president and director of Policy Research and Analysis. "The college binge drinking problem starts with children and teens, and that's where our prevention and education efforts must be focused."

"This report is a clarion call for a national mobilization to curb underage drinking," says Califano. "It sets the stage for parents, law enforcement, legislators, the entertainment industry and the alcohol industry to save millions of teens from destroying their lives through alcohol abuse."