Of Note

ON THE ROCKS: The Epidemic of Teen Drinking

Part of the Emmy® award-winning Connect with Kids series

A community-based partnership sponsored in your area by your local schools, ABC-7 and Connect with Kids/CWK Network.

A Television Presentation: Sunday, January 21 @ 11:00 a.m. on ABC-7 (WABC-TV)

(Date/time subject to change. Please check local listings and visit www.connectwithkids.com/wabc and click on "TV Programs" for future televised specials.)

75 percent of all 12th graders have tried alcohol. 30 percent say they’ve been drunk in the past month. And because of alcohol, nearly 150,000 teenagers end up in the emergency room each year. Experts say we have an epidemic of teen drinking in America, one that far-and-away overshadows the problems of all illegal drugs combined. Some kids are harming their brains, which may result in permanent brain damage. Others are falling victim to the accidents, murders, rapes and suicides that are so often associated with alcohol. The danger is clear, and yet some argue that parents are not yet taking the most obvious, necessary steps to halt teen drinking. These true stories are profiled in the special, “ON THE ROCKS: The Epidemic of Teen Drinking.”

• Shelby and Andrea convinced their dads to help them throw an 18th birthday party for their friend Laura. At the party, many kids got drunk, two got in a fight, a van got torched and a girl nearly died.
• Two times in the past year K.T. has drunk so much she ended up in an alcohol-induced coma.
• Renee, Shaleta, Terrell, Dominick, Nicandro and Jasmine were involved in either accidents, a suicide, or crimes; they made life-changing errors in judgment while they were drunk.

Connect with Kids programs feature real kids, true stories, experts and educators … a way to help parents and kids start a conversation about the tough topics kids face every day.