TEENAGERS are drinking, and a lot of times it's their own parents who are pouring the booze.
That's something Vancouver Coastal Health prevention educator Kerrie Watt is trying to change with the anti-bootlegging campaign, a joint effort by VCH, police, and North Shore municipal governments addressing adults who supply teens with alcohol.
"Youth have got really easy access to alcohol," Watt said. "What isn't often addressed is how they get it."
Approximately 80 per cent of West Vancouver teenagers get alcohol from adults, according to a 2009 West Van school survey. While there are young adults willing to buy a bottle, oftentimes it's the parents who buy, according to Watt.
"I'm a parent myself and I really empathize with parents of teenagers today. The culture of teens right now, particularly around alcohol, is fast and swift," she said.
One of the arguments Watt often encounters is the notion that supervised drinking in a controlled environment is the lesser of two evils.
"I really challenge parents to think about what it is that they imagine they're doing," she said. "Are you sitting there and making sure they pace themselves and that they've had a full meal and that they're alternating with one glass of water?"
A cavalier attitude can have dangerous effects, Watt warned.
"At Lions Gate (Hospital) alone this year we've had 39 visits. Those are the ones that've made it in there," she said, referring to the young people who have been admitted to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.
The figure does not include young people who have sustained injuries while intoxicated.
Generally, the number of young people admitted to the emergency room due to alcohol poisoning is 10 times the number admitted for drug use, according to Watt.
"We know that the younger that kids start drinking, the more serious and permanent the impacts can be, particularly on their brain development," she said.
Because the prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain to reach maturation, it is often noticeably smaller in young binge drinkers.
The prefrontal cortex controls cognitive analysis, abstract thought, and moderates behaviour in social situations.
The barrage of "alco-pops" marketed at young consumers is a major concern for Watt.
"Teens aren't drinking red wine they're drinking highly-sugared drinks that are the flavours of cotton candy and marshmallow," she said.
Asked if alcohol companies market their wares to teens, Watt replies: "Officially no, but absolutely."
A bus stop near Sutherland secondary once featured an advertisement for Palm Bay, a fruit-flavoured alcoholic beverage in a colourful can that Watt called "the Bud Light of teenage drinks."
"The majority of the ridership that's there is underage," she said.
That ad galvanized a response among VCH, prompting the group to plaster their own ads in transit hubs in an attempt to create a shift in the ethos.
"Thinking about consuming alcohol as a rite of passage is something that we need to work really hard to try and change," she said, adding that there are other ways to mark significant events.
"We don't need to look externally to companies to be socially responsible. I think we really need to start doing it in our own backyards and start having the difficult conversations with our neighbours or our friends or our partners."
