Did You Know?

Underage Drinking

In 2005, underage drinking cost the nation $60.3 billion; Texas is accountable for 8.6 percent ($5.2 billion) of this total.
According to a survey of Texas college students conducted by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), alcohol was the most commonly used substance among college students. Eighty-four percent of students had drunk an alcoholic beverage at least once during their lifetimes, 78 percent had drunk alcohol in the past year, and 66 percent had drunk alcohol in the past month.
Sixteen percent of college students reported getting drunk often. Getting drunk often is defined here as becoming drunk on three or more occasions within the past month.
Although the legal drinking age in Texas is 21, about 58 percent of college students aged 18 to 20 reported drinking an alcoholic beverage within the past month. The majority (81 percent) of underage past-year drinkers reported obtaining alcohol from someone age 21 or older.

Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks for men or four or more drinks for women within an approximate two hour time span.
Binge drinking at least once in the past month was reported by 20.6 percent of Texas’ students in grades 7-12 who participated in a DSHS survey.
Of the Texas students who reported binge drinking, over one-fifth, almost one in twenty secondary students were frequent binge drinkers; that is, they binged six or more days in the past month.
Almost 30 percent of college students reported binge drinking within the past month.
Over 11 percent of college students were frequent binge drinkers, that is, they binged on six or more occasions within the last month.

Alcohol is the most widely used substance among Texas 7-12 grade youth.
In 2008, 30.4 percent of Texas 7-12 graders reported drinking alcohol in the past month.
In 2008, TABC issued 6,886 citations for Minor in Possession/Consumption of an Alcoholic Beverage.
The TABC issued 2,063 violations in 2007 for making alcohol available to a minor, sale/serve/deliver alcoholic beverages to a minor or attempted purchase by a minor.
According to the 2008 report Adolescent Substance Use in Texas, 50.5 percent of students in grades 7-12 reported first using alcohol before age 13.
In 2007, DPS arrested over 48,000 Texas minors for alcohol related violations.

In 2007, 98 persons under the age of 21 were killed in Texas during an alcohol related traffic accident. That is 7 percent of all alcohol related traffic fatalities in the state.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) arrested 11,457 persons under 21 for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2007.
In 2008, about 19 percent of Texas’ high school seniors that participated in a DSHS survey acknowledged that they had operated a motor vehicle at least once in the past year after having “a good bit to drink.”
In 2007, 1,485 Texans died in alcohol related traffic accidents, more than any other state.