This week, the University of Michigan, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Monitoring the Future released their annual findings on teenage drug and alcohol use.

Because this follows and confirms findings the American Medical Association announced last week on a particular type of underage alcohol consumption (alcopops), below is a statement from the director of a program housed at the AMA.

Reducing Underage Drinking Through Coalitions has 11 sites in the US working to reduce youth alcohol consumption and the factors that contribute to it: Connecticut, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Missouri, DC, Raleigh (NC), Portland (OR), Austin, and Pennsylvania, and Baton Rough, LA.

View the AMA findings at: www.alcoholpolicysolutions.net.

Statement from Richard A. Yoast, PhD, Director, Reducing Underage Drinking Through Coalitions:

"The release today of Monitoring the Future's annual report on teenage alcohol and drug abuse provides an important tool to help America wake up and deal with a very real public health problem. Ten million of our nation's underage children drink, making consuming alcohol not a rite of passage but rather cause for alarm. Health risks such as brain damage, fatal accidents, liver disease and increased chances of suicide, depression and sexually-transmitted disease are not considered by anyone, especially parents, part of growing up.

"Equally troubling is how this study of 8th, 10th and 12th graders complements data that the American Medical Association just released on teen drinking rates for a particular type of alcohol: `alcopops.' Liquor brands use these sweet-flavored malt beverages as gateway drinks for less-experienced drinkers. While Monitoring the Future's report finds that flavored alcoholic beverages continue to have a high prevalence of use among teenagers, the AMA poll found that girls in particular prefer these beverages.

"The average age of a girl's first drink is now 13, and the AMA poll of teens 12-18 found that one third had already tried alcopops, making it their drink of choice. Even more surprising was that girls reported drinking all alcohol products more than boys, which echoes a recent British study that found girls drink more alcopops than boys in the U.K.

"The AMA's nationwide poll of American teens discovered that one in six girls who have tried alcopops have been sexually active after drinking, and one in four have driven or ridden in a car with a driver who had been. But the health consequences do not stop there.

"Alcohol consumption contributes to numerous health problems that uniquely effect teenage girls, who feel the impairing effects of alcohol much faster than males. These include liver, brain and heart damage as well as gender-specific complications such as increased chances of breast cancer, osteoporosis, menstrual disorders and pregnancy.

"Compare these unattractive problems with the fun and sexy images that the alcohol industry markets for alcopops. Liquor companies claim to only target legal-age drinkers, but alcopop ads reach millions of impressionable young girls. Previous studies and the AMA's new polls show that teens see such ads more than legal-age women. And legal-age women cite alcopops as their least-favorite drink.

"Parents should be outraged that these products clearly target and reach underage girls. And producers of alcopops should stop targeting our children and start making products that legal-age adults actually want."