VITALS

* The average age when 12- to 17-year-olds say they first tried alcohol is 12.8 years.

* Each year, junior and senior high school students drink an estimated 35% of all wine coolers and about 1.1 billion cans of beer.

* A 1996 survey found that 33% of 19- and 20-year-olds consume at least four alcoholic beverages on an average night, and 20% have six or more drinks.

* Almost two-thirds--or 6.9 million--of junior and high school students who consume alcohol purchase their own beverages.

* The typical American will see 100,000 beer commercials before he or she turns 18.

* Alcohol is the most costly abused substance in the United States, with the total bill to the nation estimated at $99 billion in 1990, the latest year for which figures are available. This includes the costs of: lost productivity due to illness ($36.6 billion), alcohol-related deaths ($33.6 billion), medical care ($10.5 billion), crime ($5.8 billion), incarceration ($4.8 billion), motor vehicle crashes ($3.9 billion), and fetal alcohol syndrome ($2.1 billion).

* Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for youth ages 15 to 20 in the United States. In 1996, 2,315 of these crash fatalities were related to alcohol consumed by a driver, pedestrian or bicyclist.

* Forty-four percent of white adolescents, ages 12 to 17, drink, compared to 38% of Latinos and 30% of African Americans.

* The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration defines “current use” as at least one drink in the past month, “binge use” as five or more drinks on the same occasion at least once in the past month, and “heavy use” as five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least five days in the past month.

Source: American Medical Assn.’s Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse.