According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse's 2000 Monitoring the Future Study, 22% of 8th grade students, 41% of 10th grade students, and 50% of all high school students reported drinking in the past month.

• Alcohol is the most frequently used drug by high school seniors, and its use appears to be increasing along with the use of tobacco and marijuana. In 1998, 52% of high school seniors consumed any alcohol in the last 30 days, compared to 26% who used any illicit drug in the last 30 days. (1)
• High school students lack essential knowledge about alcohol and its effects. Nationwide, an estimated 5.6 million junior and senior high school students are unsure of the legal age to purchase alcohol; one third do not understand the intoxicating effects of alcohol; and more than 2.6 million do not know a person can die from an overdose of alcohol. A projected 259,000 students think that wine coolers or beer cannot get you drunk, cannot make you sick, or cannot do as much harm as other beverages. (2)
• Due to heavy or binge drinking, nearly one out of every five teenagers (16%) has experienced "black outs," after which they could not remember what happened the previous evening. (3)
• Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24: motor-vehicle crashes, unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. (4)
• Girls are beginning to drink at younger ages. In the 1960s, 7% of 10- to 14-year-old females used alcohol; by the early 1990's, that figure had risen to 31%. (5)
• More than 67% of young people who start drinking before the age of 15 will try an illicit drug. Children who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, more than 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than children who never drank. (6)
• Of the estimated 5.4 million junior and high school students who have ever consumed five or more drinks in a row, 39% say they drink alone; 58% drink when they are upset; 30% drink when they are bored; and 37% drink to feel high. (7)
• Approximately 88% of 10th graders and 75% of 8th graders report that it's very easy or fairly easy to get alcohol. (8)
• The typical American young person will see 100,000 beer commercials before he or she turns 18. (9)
• The total cost of alcohol use by youth is $58,043 billion per year, the equivalent of $216.22 for every man, woman and child in the United States. (10)