WATCH ABOVE: The death of an Ontario teen from alcohol poisoning is a cautionary tale as a new survey suggests high school students in the province regularly consume alcohol. Minna Rhee reports.
TORONTO – You may call it “experimenting” or “a phase” but spend a little time with Randy Crowe and you’ll find that underage drinking can lead to much more than a hangover.
His son Jeremy Bennett passed away after drinking at a house party north of Cobourg. He was a straight A student, captain of the basketball team. His father says Jeremy didn’t have much experience drinking.
“It was only his second time.”
And it didn’t take long for the booze to take effect.
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“He was almost comatose from the excessive drinking – he wasn’t even there long. He got there at 7, and they took him home at 9:30”
Are your kids drinking underage? The 2013 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey was just released and it shows students from grades 7-12 are consuming alcohol regularly.
Amy Hlaing, a public health nurse from York Region’s Substance Misuse Prevention Program told Global News: “in terms of alcohol, it’s the number one drug among young people. One out of 2 students say they’ve had an alcoholic drink in the past year.”
28% of the teens surveyed admitted to binge drinking – consuming 5 or more drinks on one occasion in the last year. There was a 50-50 chance that Jeremy Bennett could have survived that February night, but nobody called 911, and the parents who were hosting the party dropped him off to an empty house – he never woke up.
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“He was encouraged cmon, cmon, cmon right? And he got caught up, and it took his life,” said Randy Crowe.
Even if your kid seems mature, experts say it’s up to parents to broach the subject, and often. It may be uncomfortable at first, but it’s just as important as talking to your children about safe sex.
“It’s not a one time conversation, certainly. And the conversation that you have when they’re 7 is going to be different from the conversation that you have when they’re 17.” says Hlaing.
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