For Students

Underage Drinking Tipline Launched...

...by KDOT

by Randy Rivers

July 19, 2006

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has launched a statewide underage drinking tipline:

. 1-866-MUSTB21

(1-866-687-8221).

The toll-free tipline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is now available for citizens to anonymously report parties involving underage drinking, plans to purchase alcohol for underage persons and willingness of retailers to sell alcohol to underage persons.

Research shows that, while young people drink somewhat less frequently than do adults, they tend to consume more per occasion - almost twice as much, in fact. Research also show that the part of our brain responsible for judgment and impulse control - the prefrontal cortex - is not fully developed until about age 24, and that alcohol impairs this part of the immature brain more quickly than it does the mature brain. This fact helps to explain why Kansans, ages 15-24 who comprise only 19 percent of the driving population, are now involved in almost 40 percent of alcohol-related crashes. Research makes it clear that the "I drank when I was a kid and I'm okay" argument isn't good enough anymore. Underage drinkers, those who host underage drinking parties, and those who distribute alcohol to minors need to know they are being watched and reported!

Remember, the legal drinking age in Kansas and across the nation is 21 years.