Teen Drinking and Driving
ASK THE EXPERT: Peter 
Tucker, M.D., Family Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe.
Q: Every day it seems there is a terrible story about teenage drinking and driving that usually ends in a horrible tragedy. I know I can't think for my teenage son when he's about to do something stupid, but how can I stress the affects of alcohol without sounding like I am preaching?
A: You have plenty of reason for concern. Recent studies show that even if a teenager never gets behind the wheel of a car when drinking, the long-term effects of drinking at a young age can be just as bad.
According to a recent study published by the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 47 percent of those who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 14 will become alcohol dependent, compared with 9 percent of those who wait at least until age 21.
Recent advances in medical technology are providing evidence that alcohol can cause damage to the developing adolescent brain. Earlier experiments conducted on the brains of adolescent rats showed that alcohol damages the forebrain and hippocampus -- structures in the brains essential for learning, new memory formation, self-control, motivation and attention. New discoveries using the latest imaging technologies, such as MRI and PET scanning, have demonstrated these same harmful effects in the human teenage brain, and this damage may be permanent.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, people aged 12 to 20 account for 11 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States. The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among high school students, during the past 30 days: 45 percent drank some amount of alcohol; 26 percent reported binge drinking (for women, four or more drinks and for men, five or more drinks during a single occasion); 11percent drove after drinking alcohol and 29 percent rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.
With teenagers, there is a fine line between educating and preaching. Try to educate your teenager using their "playing field" of choice. Before handing over the car keys to your teenager for the first time, require them to "Google" the effects of underage drinking and report their findings to you. Doing so forces them to learn about the effects of alcohol from someone besides you.
Set a good example. Keep your own alcoholic drinking to a minimum and never drink and drive! Don't make alcohol easily accessible at home. Know your teenagers' friends and their friends' parents. Safety and support in numbers is helpful.
For information contact: Peter Tucker, M.D., Family Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe. He can be reached at his office in St. Clair Shores at 586.498.4400.
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