Supported by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District and Chapel Hill Police Department, "Talk it up! Lock it up!" is a campaign of the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers, encouraging parents to be pro-active in denying teen access to alcohol and prescriptive drugs in the home.

According to the American Medical Association, two-thirds of teens ages 13-18 said it is easy to obtain alcohol from their home without parental knowledge. The family home is a primary place teens acquire alcohol and prescriptive drugs. Denying access to both, regardless of source, is critical to reducing unhealthy or dangerous teen use.

The Mayo Clinic finds most parents underestimate how early teens start drinking (on average, a child takes a first standard drink of alcohol at age 12, while 10 percent of 9- to 10-year-olds have started drinking); the amount teens drink (teens consume significantly greater quantities of alcohol when drinking than adults, with most alcohol consumed during bouts of binge drinking); and the risks involved (alcohol, an addictive drug, kills more teens than all other drugs combined, and its damage is confirmed, among others, to the teen brain, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, circulatory system and alteration of genetic make-up. Alcohol is a frequent catalyst for high-risk or undesirable behaviors.) For teens, there is no such thing as a safe drink.

The alarming rise in inappropriate teen use of prescriptive drugs taken from the family home is a serious threat. Pilfering medication whose effects they don't comprehend, under some misguided craving to get "high," is a prescription for youthful disaster. Compounding this problem, they often share their stolen booty with friends at events like "Pharm" parties, where teens gather intending to mix consumption of alcohol and prescriptive drugs.

Parents should talk to their children early and often about use of alcohol and other drugs, setting clear, firm and consistent expectations. Former U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galson said, "If you wait until your children are in middle school to begin talking, I think it is too late. We should begin as soon as they can be communicated with."

But parents must also take active measures to deny teen access to alcohol and other drugs. Most experts agree that denial of access is essential to reducing teen drug abuse. The earlier teens begin use, the greater the risk of permanent health damage or long-term dependency. For instance, nearly half of those teens who begin drinking alcohol before age 15 will suffer with issues of dependency or abuse during their lifetime. For those who delay the onset of alcohol use until age 21 or later, few suffer such issues.

A place to start is with the Chapel Hill Police Department, which is conducting Operation Medicine Cabinet, a prescriptive drug turn-in program at University Mall on Nov. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Avoiding improper use, this effort is designed for safe disposal of expired and unused medications.

Parents, Talk it up! Lock it up! It's your responsibility to monitor and control teen access to drugs in your home. For more information, visit www.chccoalition.org

Ronald E. Bogle is a retired Superior Court judge and works with the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers.