Police chief explains prescription drugs, medical marijuana among youth bigger issue than underage drinking

July 10 – Local law enforcement agencies say underage drinking is no longer as common as it used to be due to easier access to medical marijuana and prescription drugs.

Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King said they will normally deal with alcohol use when Northeastern State University resumes its sessions in August.

“The new students, especially in the first few weeks when the NSU reports back, we see probably the most,” said King.

According to the Surgeon General, there are more than 4,300 alcohol-related deaths annually among minors who drink. Alcohol is the most commonly consumed and abused drug in the United States, and 14 percent of Oklahoma minors said they had consumed alcohol within a month.

“In total, over 7,350,000 young people said they had at least one alcoholic beverage in the past month, and 4,525,000 admitted they had been binge drinking in the past month. If you look at the daily averages, those numbers mean it that 245,200 young people drink alcohol and 150,833 binge drinks each. ” Day in the US on average, “reads the American Addiction Center Oxford Treatment Center website.

However, King said that things have started to shift where they are now more preoccupied with prescription drug use than underage drinking.

“We’re more into prescription drug use, and now with medical marijuana in Oklahoma we’re seeing more and more marijuana cases … especially in high school,” he said.

King said that because alcohol is a legal substance at a certain age, it is easily accessible for children to get at.

“Parents may have a six-pack of beer, a bottle of liquor, or a full bar at home, so we’ve seen children have access to more substances than any other in the past. We have increased prescription drugs – through legal prescription drugs from doctors again seen more and more households in America where children now have easy access to these prescription drugs, “King said.

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The Bureau of Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention has awarded funds to the states for the block grant program to enforce underage alcohol laws.

Project 21 was designed to tackle the roots of underage alcohol consumption and tackle places where minors bought alcohol. The project began in 2001, and King said he served as the coordinator for it early in his law enforcement career.

“It was the Oklahoma initiative to reduce underage drinking, and I was the coordinator for the eastern half of the state. The program is no longer funded as it was because the focus is on the federal – and state funding has shifted more to the recipe. ” Drugs, ”he said.

TPD occasionally conducts compliance checks where decoys pretend to be minors and try to buy alcohol.

The review is usually carried out with two teams, each using a volunteer under the age of 21.

Blackhawk Liquor’s Jeremy Adair checks the IDs of everyone entering the store and he said they had no problem with minors.

“Most of the time we have a problem with minors is when they can help their parents, and that’s fine because kids can be accompanied by an adult as long as they’re not touching anything,” Adair said. “You can’t point something out because then I know it’s for you, or you send someone else in and I know it’s for you.”

The Alcoholic Beverages Law Enforcement Commission has the power to revoke the license of any licensee if it finds a licensee who knowingly sold, delivered or delivered alcohol to anyone under the age of 21.

In this case, the ABLE Commission can revoke licenses after a public hearing.

Under city ordinances, possession of low-point beer is fined $ 285 for a minor and is illegal for an adult to host an event or party at which a minor could consume alcohol.

It is unlawful for any person in control of premises to knowingly host, permit or permit a gathering in such premises in which at least one minor is consuming an alcoholic beverage if the person in control of the premises, either knows that a minor has consumed an alcoholic beverage or should reasonably have known that a minor consumed an alcoholic beverage if the person had taken all reasonable steps to prevent a minor from consuming an alcoholic beverage, as in this one Section described.