"During the 2014–15 school year, there were 22,500 reported alcohol-related discipline incidents in the United States (table 15.5).73 The number of alcohol-related incidents varies widely across jurisdictions, due in large part to their differing populations. Therefore, the rate of alcohol-related discipline incidents per 100,000 students can provide a more comparable indication of the frequency of these incidents across jurisdictions. During the 2014–15 school year, the rate of alcohol-related discipline incidents was 45 per 100,000 students in the United States.

"On average, 6 people died every day from alcohol poisoning in the US from 2010 to 2012. Alcohol poisoning is caused by drinking large quantities of alcohol in a short period of time. Very high levels of alcohol in the body can shutdown critical areas of the brain that control breathing, heart rate, and body temperature, resulting in death. Alcohol poisoning deaths affect people of all ages but are most common among middle-aged adults and men."

"In 2014, alcohols, including ethanol and isopropyl alcohol, were involved in 15% of all drug overdose deaths and 17% of the drug overdose deaths that mentioned involvement of at least one specific drug. Table E shows the frequency of alcohol involvement among drug overdose deaths involving specific drugs.
"• Alcohol involvement was mentioned in 12%–22% of the drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl, heroin, hydrocodone, morphine, oxycodone, alprazolam, diazepam, or cocaine.

Definitions of "Heavy" and "Binge" Alcohol Use According to SAMHSA:

Prevalence of Alcohol Use Among Young People in Australia: "Alcohol use becomes more common with increasing age with 76% of 17-year-olds having consumed alcohol in the year preceding the survey, compared to 19% of 12-year-olds.
"Only 32% of all students reported never consuming alcohol.

"Teen users are at significantly higher risk of developing an addictive disorder compared to adults, and the earlier they began using, the higher their risk. Nine out of 10 people who meet the clinical criteria for substance use disorders involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs began smoking, drinking or using other drugs before they turned 18. People who begin using any addictive substance before age 15 are six and a half times as likely to develop a substance use disorder as those who delay use until age 21 or older (28.1 percent vs. 4.3 percent)."

Alcohol Use by 50-Year-Olds in the US: "Alcohol consumption is relatively high among 50-year-olds, with over two thirds (68%) indicating that they consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the prior 30 days, 11% reporting current daily drinking (defined as drinking on 20 or more occasions in the prior 30 days), and 19% indicating recent occasions of heavy drinking (defined as five or more drinks in a row on at least one occasion in the prior two weeks).

"• Measures on the availability of cigarettes are not included in the 12th grade questionnaires because we have assumed that they are almost universally available to this age group. However, data on this measure are collected from 8th and 10th graders, which clearly show that most perceive cigarettes to be readily available. In 2016, 46% of 8th graders and 63% of 10th graders thought that cigarettes would be fairly easy or very easy for them to get if they wanted some.

Prevalence of "Heavy" Alcohol Use in the US: "The estimate of 17.3 million people aged 12 or older in 2015 who were heavy alcohol users in the past month (Figure 21) represents 6.5 percent of the population aged 12 or older (Figure 23). In 2015, 221,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17 were current heavy alcohol users. Stated another way, about 1 out of 100 adolescents (0.9 percent) engaged in binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past 30 days. About 1 out of every 10 young adults aged 18 to 25 (10.9 percent) were heavy alcohol users in the past month, which corresponds to 3.8 million young adults. An estimated 6.4 percent of adults aged 26 or older in 2015 were current heavy alcohol users. This percentage corresponds to about 13.3 million adults aged 26 or older who were heavy alcohol users in the past month.

Prevalence of Binge Alcohol Use in the US, 2012:
"• Nearly one quarter (23.0 percent) of persons aged 12 or older in 2012 were binge alcohol users in the 30 days prior to the survey. This translates to about 59.7 million people. The rate in 2012 was similar to the rate in 2011 (22.6 percent)."