It’s Friday night — do you know where your child is?

Underage drinking is a problem in Alaska. There are many young adults drinking alcohol — at parties, on school property and behind their parents’ backs. Some kids drink to be cool, fit into a crowd, or just to escape their problems. Whatever the reason, the problem needs to be talked about; and it needs to be fixed. Teenage drinking takes its toll emotionally and monetarily on everyone who has to deal with it.

First of all, drinking at a young age could become an emotional roller coaster by destroying families and friendships. When teens start abusing alcohol they are more likely to get involved in crime, and this has the potential to cause big problems, like trouble in school, bad grades, and trouble with the law. All these troubles add up to lots of stress in the family.

Friendships could be badly affected as well. Imagine having your friend in the car with you, while you have been out drinking. You get into a car accident and seriously injure or kill your friend. This would have a massive effect on life. Could you live with that memory for the rest of your life?

Secondly, underage drinking costs the state of Alaska a lot of money. According to the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, underage drinking in 2010, cost Alaska $300 million in medical care, loss of work, youth violence and traffic accidents. Just think of how much one car crash could end up costing, especially if there’s a death. Of that, medical care costs $52 million, work lost is $79 million and pain and suffering $190 million.

That’s a lot of money that could be used for education purposes instead.

Kids start drinking at an early age. This is an impressionable time when guidance and counseling could most effectively teach teens to stay away from alcohol. The Pacific Institute’s research shows that almost 17 percent of young adults had their first drink before age 13, and 3 percent had one drink on school property.

If a young adult starts drinking before age 15, they are more prone to being “alcohol abusers” before the age of 21. In 2009, there were 473 young Alaskans from age 12 to 20 in need of alcohol treatment. If kids can be convinced at an early age that drinking is a “dead end,” then they might be persuaded to not start drinking at all.

Teenage drinking is a serious problem. The lives of many kids and families are badly affected by alcohol and its effects. There needs to be more of an effort to make kids aware how alcohol adversely affects their lives and the lives of those around them.

Natalie Appell is a freshman at Colony High School. She enjoys snowmachining, photography and singing.