Video: Dangers Of Underage Drinking

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LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- We often report it here,  the results of teenagers drinking and making the decision to get behind the wheel. The results are often tragic.

Typically when you think of underage drinking being a problem, you think of it happening in a big college town.

However, professional counselor Arleen Weatherby said underage drinking is a big problem right here in Lowndes County.

“Surveys have shown that the earliest youth in our area have taken their first drink of alcohol was at the age of 9,” said Weatherby.  “In 2012, 21.7 percent of Lowndes County youth between the ages of 12 and 17 reported drinking on a survey.”

Weatherby believes one the reasons behind those high numbers is because alcohol has become more accessible and teens can easily get their hands on alcoholic beverages.

“Alcohol is in home, and they can just go and get it when their parents aren’t there and if it’s not locked up, and then they have older people that’s going out and buying it for them,” Weatherby said.

Mississippi Highway Patrolman Gregg Bell said peer pressure is another factor in underage drinking.

“They’re in high school, 10th, 11th, 12th, grade, your buddy does it, you don’t want to but you don’t want to be the odd man out,” Bell said.

Bell said that same exact peer pressure can also lead teens into making another bad decision, getting behind the wheel.

“They will think they’re invincible, they think it’s not going to happen to me, I’ve only got a short distance to travel,” he said.

And now with prom and graduation season upon us, precious lives are at steak.

Bell said law enforcement is cracking down on underage drinking tougher than ever.

“We try to do a lot of education during this times” he said. “We’re just trying to drill into their heads to think and make the right choices.”

Continuous education on the dangers of underage drinking is something Bell said will help combat this problem, but ultimately, Bell believes.

“It starts in the home,” he said.  “Parents just got to stress to them the importance of not drinking and driving, not drinking until there of age, which is 21 here in Mississippi.”

On Saturday, Community Counseling Services will host a “Lowndes County Talks” meeting to address underage drinking.

It runs from 10 a.m. until noon at the gym on the M.U.W’s campus.