Our keiki’s lives are at risk: Mothers know that we need better alcohol policy

Iam sorry to say that I was a teenage smoker. Today, as the mother of two young children, it infuriates and saddens me that so many companies continue to turn their predatory marketing practices on our children to hawk their addictive products. I hope every mother fights back and begins teaching their children that they are being made victims by unscrupulous companies who value the bottom line more than people’s lives.

Let’s not just scold our children for experimenting with drugs or tobacco or vaping or alcohol. Instead let’s give them the tool that will let them fight back: information.

Every teenager bristles at being told not to do something “because it is bad for you.”

But guess what? They bristle even more and become really angry when they learn and understand how companies lure them into trying their products. They are outraged at the shady marketing tactics that result in them being sucked into habits that become addictive and endanger their lives. We need to channel that outrage into positive behaviors that build good health.

It’s hard. We have normalized the consumption of alcohol in our homes and at all our social events. We constantly send the message through our example that a party cannot be fun without alcohol. I was fooled into believing that to be cool I had to smoke. So I understand a teenager today wanting to be “cool” by taking drugs or drinking alcohol. We need better guard rails on teenage drinking.

The thing is I’ve seen the suffering up close. Friends and associates who are dedicated to fighting the scourge of impaired driving because they have lost beloved family members to drunk drivers. Just recently a friend was hit at a traffic light by a truck that sped off without stopping to offer aid. My guess: they knew they would be found to be driving impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Here on Maui we have grown accustomed to a regular diet of stories about crashes and fatalities caused by impaired driving. It’s only September, but already we know we have had six alcohol-related crashes resulting in seven deaths, according to the state Department of Transportation. That number will likely rise as we get more toxicology reports. In 2021, we had eight deaths, and six in 2020. If those numbers seem small to you, remember they do not feel small at all to the grieving families left behind.

As someone who saw progress through the tobacco-free coalition, I refuse to give up. Deaths that can be traced to the consumption of alcohol by the driver are entirely preventable. I urge everyone not just to get mad — but to fight back by insisting that our lawmakers do something to resist the formidable power of the alcohol lobby.

We can and should lower the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level as was proposed in Senate Bill 2096 this year. It was a disservice to our children that SB 2096 did not make it through the 2022 legislative session. But 2023 beckons. Let’s be sure we let our lawmakers know that we expect them to act and come up with better alcohol policy. If we could do it with tobacco, we can do it with alcohol. I’m sure of it. Tell the elected officials who represent you that you are watching and waiting for them to act without delay. Our keiki’s lives are on the line. What could be more important?

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