County underage drinkers nearly double state average

In a survey given just last fall, one in five eighth graders in Gage County, or 20 percent, said they had used alcohol within the past 30 days.

“Unfortunately, Gage County is a lot higher -- almost twice as high -- as the state average, which is a little over 10 percent,” said Tara Kuipers, director of the Gage County Multiple Agencies Partnering for Success coalition, during a presentation at a meeting of the Beatrice Area Retired School Persons on Wednesday.

She said the high number in Gage County is of concern because starting to use alcohol at an early age can lead to various problems, including issues with learning.

“When you start to use alcohol early, you’re four to five times more likely to become alcoholic,” Kuipers said.

But how do statistics like this impact Nebraskans in general?

Kuipers said underage alcohol use costs Nebraskans $447 million per year for things like traffic crashes, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, injury and treatment for alcoholism.

Drinking and driving in particular costs Nebraskans $130.6 million per year in wages and productivity lost, medical expenses, motor vehicle damage and other expenses, she said.

“It really impacts everything, and it’s all 100 percent preventable,” Kuipers said.

The survey information Kuipers presented comes from the Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Survey done every two years by the Nebraska Department of Education. The survey asks children in grades six, eight, 10 and 12 what their behaviors are and their attitudes regarding alcohol and drug use.

The fall 2007 survey also found that 20 percent of 10th graders in Gage County reported that they had tried marijuana, she said.

There tends to be a perception that it’s just marijuana, it’s natural and at least it isn’t harder drugs, Kuipers said.

“But what we see from law enforcement is that the potency of the drug is 200-300 times more that what it was 15 years ago,” she said.

Marijuana also is viewed as a gateway drug, she said, as the majority of people who have used harder drugs started their experimentation with marijuana.

In comparing the surveys from 2003 and 2007, she said the number of Gage County eighth graders who reported having smoked cigarettes went up from 8 percent in 2003 to 11 percent in 2007.

“It’s not up drastically, but that’s still about one in 10 eighth graders who’ve tried cigarettes,” Kuipers said.

It’s the reverse of the trend seen nationally, as cigarette use has generally gone down, she said.

Another statistic of concern, Kuipers said, is that 51 percent of Gage County’s 12th graders reported having been the passenger in a car with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

“Alcohol-related accidents are the No. 1 cause of death among youth,” she said.

Kuipers said the perception at times is that the message of don’t drink and drive is overdone, but when over half of 12th graders still do it there’s more work to be done on the issue.

On a positive note, binge drinking, defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in a row, decreased in Gage County from 2003-2007, she said.

“I’m glad to say that number has decreased,” Kuipers said.

In 2003, 43 percent of 12th graders in the county reported binge drinking, while 30 percent reported doing so in the 2007 survey.

“That’s still a significant number of kids, and it’s still quite a bit higher than the state average of 20-22 percent,” she said.

Also on a positive note, Kuipers said the 2007 survey showed that 40 percent of the county’s 12th graders have used cigarettes, lower than the state average of about 45 percent.

In response to a question about what makes this area a hot spot, she said that is not known for sure.

She said these are issues that everyone in the community can help with, whether it’s with their own children or grandchildren or the child that lives next door.

“You all can still play a role,” Kuipers said, as the influence of adults is an important factor in keeping children from using alcohol and drugs.

She said underage alcohol use goes back to adults because 100 percent of the alcohol youths get their hands on comes from adults at some point since it is not legal for youths to purchase it themselves.

“This is a community problem,” Kuipers said.

And that’s where a coalition like MAPS helps.

MAPS is a coalition of individuals from across Gage County representing many areas including human service, health care, mental health, education, law enforcement, churches, youth, and community volunteers. Their goal is to create better communication between the agencies so they can find ways to collaborate, she said.

The point, Kuipers said, is to look at what’s going on in the community and figure out ways they can better support the health of youth.