Underage Drinking Problems

Wednesday, August 1st 2007, 6:40 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Most Oklahoma teens know they have to be 21 to legally buy beer or alcohol, but state officials say that is not stopping them from drinking. Officials say they also know which stores will sell to them, even though they are too young.

The state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services says about 155,000 underage youths in Oklahoma drink alcohol each year.

The problems caused by underage drinking add up. The agency says $778.1 million in 2005 for everything from youth violence and traffic crashes to alcohol treatment.

The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office says that from 2001 to 2005, 3,706 drivers age 16 to 20 with an alcohol- or drug-impaired condition were in crashes.

The crashes caused 115 fatalities and injured another 3,217 people.