Just as fans of the Backstreet Boys started to recover from the announcement of member A.J. McLean's addiction to alcohol, Hollywood star Ben Affleck added his name to the list of young celebrities in rehab for alcohol abuse.

        When A.J. takes the stage in Cincinnati on Saturday night, he won't be alone. Not only is he in the company of many young celebs who used the bottle to cope with pressure, but he'll be performing in front of many Tristate teens who are or have been going down the same route.

        Eight out of 10 high school seniors have used alcohol with first use typically around age 13, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

        Greater Cincinnati has a serious problem with teen alcoholism and few resources to combat it, experts say.

        One out of four teens who took part in a recent local survey said they used alcohol before age 12. Kids who start drinking by age 14 are more likely to become alcoholics than those who wait until they are 21.

FINDING HELP

• Alcoholism Council of the Cincinnati Area NCADD: 281-7880    • Talbert House: 751-7747    • Alternatives (for males) or Pathways (for females): 872-8880    • Kids Helping Kids: 575-7300    • Sojourner outpatient treatment center: 863-1590    • Teen Horizons: 867-2280    • Crossroads Center: 475-5300    • Norcen Behavioral Health Systems: 761-6222    • Lighthouse: 961-4080    • Mallory Center: 591-2255    • Wyoming Youth Services: 821-2428    • Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program: 541-7099    • Family Service of the Cincinnati Area: 345-8555    • Catholic Social Services: (859) 581-8974 in Kentucky, 241-7745 in Ohio    • NorthKey Community Care: (859) 331-3292    • Family Services of Northern Kentucky: (859) 291-1121

ON THE WEB

• Hamilton County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services: www.hamilton-co.org/hcfcfc/ADAS.htm    • For parents to handle the tough subjects: www.talkingwithkids.com    • Alternatives to drugs: www.thecoolspot.org    • Anti-drug Web site: www.freevibe.com    • Information for children: www.health.org/features/kidsarea/ kidsarea.htm    • Kids Helping Kids homepage: www.tasc.com/charity/khk/ homepage.htm    • NorthKey Community Care: www.northkey.org

WARNING SIGNS

Drug and alcohol abuse warning signs    • Low grades and/or trouble in school.    • Caught stealing or forging school excuses.    • Minimizing amount of drug usage.    • Withdraws from friends and family or runs with a completely different crowd.    • Loss of motivation or drive.    • Sexual promiscuity.    • Run-ins with the law.    • Personal grooming declines.    • Physical changes including slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils and weight loss.

DRINKING QUIZ

Here's a 12-question quiz for teens to decide whether they have a drinking problem:    1. Do you drink because you have problems? To relax?    2. Do you drink when you get mad at other people, your friends or parents?    3. Do you prefer to drink alone, rather than with others?    4. Are your grades starting to slip? Are you goofing off on your job?    5. Did you ever try to stop drinking or drink less — and fail?    6. Have you begun to drink in the morning, before school or work?    7. Do you gulp your drinks?    8. Do you ever have loss of memory due to your drinking?    9. Do you lie about your drinking?    10. Do you ever get into trouble when you are drinking?    11. Do you get drunk when you drink, even when you don't mean to?    12. Do you think it's cool to be able to hold your liquor?    How can you tell if a friend has a drinking problem?    Sometimes it's tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend has one or more of the following warning signs, he or she may have a problem with alcohol:    • Getting drunk on a regular basis.    • Lying about how much alcohol he or she is using.    • Believing that alcohol is necessary to have fun.    • Having frequent hangovers.    • Feeling run-down, depressed or even suicidal.    • Having blackouts — forgetting what he or she did while drinking.    • Having problems at school or getting in trouble with the law.    What can you do to help someone who has a drinking problem?    Be a real friend. You might even save a life. Encourage your friend to stop drinking or seek professional help. For information and referrals, call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at (800) 729-6686.

THE NUMBERS

Kids and alcohol, locally:    • Thirty percent of those surveyed used alcohol regularly within 30 days of survey participation.    • One quarter of all students who used alcohol reported their first use before age 12.    • By the end of their 7th-grade year, 44 percent of all students surveyed had experimented with at least one substance, including alcohol.    • Seventy percent consumed alcohol at a private home.    • Seventy-five percent of parties hosted by students have alcohol present.    Source: Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati 2000 survey of 47,236 students.    Drinking and driving:    During a typical weekend in America, an average of one teen-ager dies each hour in a car crash. Nearly 50 percent of those crashes involved alcohol.

        And the Tristate has few facilities to deal with teen alcoholics. “Cincinnati needs more resources, more options for treatment,” University of Cincinnati assistant professor Keith King says.

        What's more, the Tristate has few entertainment alternatives for kids to keep them out of trouble.

        “Most kids have nothing better to do,” Dr. King says. “They have no alternative. We need to give them positive alternatives, more things for them to do.”

        Prevention programs need to start as early as the fourth grade because kids begin experimenting as early as sixth grade, he says.

Started at 12

        Consider 16-year-old Brew from Northern Kentucky, who began drinking at age 12.

        “I felt like I couldn't have fun if I wasn't high. I felt really insecure, had bad self-esteem and fought with my parents a lot.”

        He stole alcohol from his parents' liquor cabinet or got older friends to buy it for him. He reached a point where he wouldn't go to school or mow the lawn without a couple of drinks first.

        “I felt bad about my life, but drinking made it better.”

        Fights with his parents increased and his world was spinning out of control. “Alcohol was just something I had to have. I couldn't do anything without it, but I didn't think it was that bad.”

        Then his parents got him into to Kids Helping Kids, a Clermont County-based, nonprofit intervention program which uses peer counselors. Both teens and their families are involved in treatment and counseling based on Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step program.

        Brew credits Kids Helping Kids with opening his eyes. He's been sober for more than two months and has restored relationships with friends and family.

        Drug-use rates drop when parents become more involved in their teens' lives, according to the results of a survey conducted last year by the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati. Positive things happen when alternatives are presented to teens.

        The coalition encourages families to talk about drugs and to get kids more involved in the community in positive ways, such as volunteering and attending church. Participating in sports or joining school clubs can be positive, too

        “We are very casual about alcohol in this country,” says Nan Franks Richardson of the Alcoholism Council of the Cincinnati Area. Unfortunately, there's nothing casual about the numbers of children and teen-agers who use and abuse alcohol.
       

Funding cuts

        Recent state budget cuts have severed the fund earmarked for adolescent services in half. According to Sherry Knapp, CEO of the Hamilton County Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Service Board, the cuts mean severely limiting the board's intensive outpatient service.

        “It just happened that the funds that were cut were the ones we designated for our adolescent outpatient program,” says Dr. Knapp. More than $300,000 is spent annually by the state on sending troubled youth to other locations for treatment.

        “We have the programs to help kids, we just don't have the money to buy a building to create a place where they can go for help.”

        In Northern Kentucky, the situation is no better. The University of Kentucky estimates that of the 36,000 children who live in the eight-county area, about 5,100 need treatment for addictions but only 10 percent of those actually receive it.

        There is no inpatient care or intensive services available for Kentucky's youth in need. Those who live in rural areas or don't have insurance have even fewer services available for battling substance abuse.

        Insured kids with parents willing to put their whole family into therapy may have the best chance at beating the bottle.

        Angela Carl, director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Planning Project in Northern Kentucky, researched recovery sources and identified barriers for children seeking recovery. The project is a collaborative effort among five agencies: NorthKey Community Care, Catholic Social Services, Transitions, Brighton Center and Family Services of Northern Kentucky.

        “There are a combination of obstacles in identifying, engaging and retaining kids in treatment,” Ms. Carl says, “including funding, transportation, access to services, stigma and a lack of family involvement.”

        She says there is also a shortage of therapists to handle the double demon of addiction and depression.

        “That is a huge issue,” Ms. Carl says, “finding qualified workers who are willing to work for relatively low salaries to do really difficult treatment work. However, those who are providing therapy speak highly of their personal sense of reward and contribution in helping kids in trouble.”
       

Involving family

        A program that heals the family along with the child is the best way to ensure success, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.

        Their findings show that families function better overall, and, in some cases, adolescent substance use is reduced when parents receive help and support in coping with their child's drug problem.

        It's as difficult for families to face up to the addiction as it is for the child, according to Penny Walker, executive director of Kids Helping Kids.

        “Keeping a kid going in a recovery program is a huge family commitment,” says Ms. Walker. “There are lots of meetings, transportation and a lot of time spent. The family may give up because there's a lot of time management involved . . .

        “The patient requires intensive treatment and that's where family support is required. Many times, other problems can give recovery a very difficult time, like dealing with the patient's depression or severe acting out. Adolescents often require more long term care, the behavioral ramifications are huge and there's heavy peer involvement to achieve appropriate behavior.”

        Consider 18-year-old Sylvia from Dayton, who began drinking at age 13.

        She started raiding her parents' liquor cabinet, which they kept in the garage.

        “They didn't think I was drinking, so they just left the key in the lock. I went into it a couple of times when I was in the eighth grade and then every day during ninth grade.”

        Teen-age angst and depression caused her to drink daily, “whatever I could get my hands on.” Sylvia was in her sophomore year when her parents discovered she was drinking. “They were real non-serious about it. My dad would jokingly say, "Well, did the bottle just walk off?' ”

        It wasn't until her parents acknowledged her repeated cries for help that they agreed to put her in Kids Helping Kids.

        “When I went into the program, I knew I had a problem, but I didn't see how badly I needed to do something about it,” she says. “My life got so bad, I was an emotional wreck. I drank for four years and realized I couldn't recover on my own. Once I learned the nature of this disease, I learned a lot about myself. I thought I was the only one like this. I felt so alone in the world, but the other teens here understood me.”

        Sylvia has been sober seven months and plans to finish school and go on to college.

Teens listen to teens

        Peer counseling may be a more powerful tool for drug intervention than in-school lectures by former addicts, Dr. King says.

        “The message is most effective if delivered by other teens,” says Dr. King, a faculty member of the program of Health Promotion and Education. “A lot of people don't even acknowledge there is teen alcoholism,” he says. “Teens have to get more education on what alcoholism is.”

        Dr. King believes programs, such as the one UC is launching with the Cincinnati Public Schools this fall, will promote positive peer pressure.

        The biggest mistake parents make is in not talking to their children about alcohol and drugs, he says.

        “Parents need to be in tune with their child, to be involved in their lives. Don't think, "My child will never do that.'

        “What about their friends? If your child's friends are doing it, they could be, too. Talk with your child and listen to them. Don't just say, "Don't do this and don't do this.' Set rules with your child. Say, "This is the rule and why i'm setting it. If you disagree with it, I'll listen and we'll talk about it.'

        “Listen to their music, what they're listening to, what's the message. Know the warning signs of drug use, and talk with kids about it. Talk with their friends and get to know them.

        “The bottom line falls to parents. Listen to your child. Get involved.”

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