In 2006, the average age at first alcohol use among recent initiates aged 12 to 49 was 16.6 years. This is earlier than any other drug except inhalants.
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In 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities. Of these, an estimated 13,470 involved a driver with an illegal BAC (.08 or greater). On average someone is killed by a drunk driver every 39 minutes.
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An early age of drinking onset is associated with alcohol-related violence not only among persons under age 21 but among adults as well.
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Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined.
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The total cost attributable to the consequences of underage drinking was $61.9 billion per year in 2001 dollars. This is $5.4 billion in medical costs, $14.9 billion in work loss and other resource costs, and $41.6 billion in lost quality of life.
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In 2007, the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that approximately 5,000 persons under age 21 die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking each year.
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Underage drinkers are susceptible to immediate consequences of alcohol use, including blackouts, hangovers, and alcohol poisoning and are at elevated risk of neurodegeneration (particularly in regions of the brain responsible for learning and memory), impairments in functional brain activity, and the appearance of neurocognitive defects. Heavy episodic or binge drinking impairs study hairs and erodes the development of transitional skills to adulthood.
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People who begin drinking before age 14 are seven times more likely than those who began drinking after age 21 to report being in a motor vehicle crash because of their drinking.
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