TEENS: A survey on teen-age drinking by Research Triangle Institute of North Carolina estimated that some 24 million high school students drink at least once a month and that one in five 12th-graders admits being drunk once a week. That's an alarming number! Officials from the National institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism say that the majority of teens who drink are largely unaware of the dangers of alcohol consumption. Here are the questions with answers that teens in the survey wanted to know:

1. Can a 16-year-old be an alcoholic?

Yes. It's rare, but possible. There are also alcoholic 10-year-olds on record.

2. Is it legal for minors to drink in a private home?

In some states, the answer is yes. Others forbid it for anyone underage. Check with your local police department.

3. Having a beer or two can't cause problems, right?

Wrong. Most teens don't realize that one can of beer or a glass of wine contains as much alcohol as a cocktail. Even in moderate amounts, alcohol alters reflexes and hinders judgment and concentration. Drinking can affect your problem-solving ability, your vision, your emotions and your memory.

4. Why do teen-agers drink so much?

Among the many reasons given for teen drinking is that they are exposed to tensions and problems in our high-pressure society, because those they admire drink, and because we are now living in a drug-taking culture.

WORLD OF WONDER

DR. WALLACE: I'm 14 and live with my parents and a 3-year-old brother. He's really smart and has a great imagination. But the problem is that he also lets his imagination run wild and tells enormous fibs and insists they are true!

The other day he told my mom and me that he saw an elephant in our backyard. My mom asked him what the elephant was doing and he said it was drinking out of our swimming pool. My mom always encourages him to keep on talking and it gets ridiculous! She will ask what color the elephant was and he'll say yellow or purple, and she'll tell him she thought she saw the elephant too.

I keep telling my brother to quit lying because elephants are only in the zoo, not in our backyard. It seems to me that my mom is encouraging my brother to keep on telling fibs. I think being honest is the best thing to teach him. Do you agree? — Madison, San Diego, Calif.

MADISON: There is a great deal of difference in the world of make-believe and lying. Your brother's world is full of wonder and his imagination is vivid and fertile and is not yet limited by "reality." You should think back to your childhood and remember the world of fairy tales that you enjoyed.

Is it lying to flap your arms and pretend you're flying, or to call a blanket draped over a chair or table a magic castle? Of course not.

A lie is usually self-serving. If your little brother had eaten forbidden cookies and then denied it, he would be lying. This would need to be explained as untrue and he must learn the difference.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Ryosuke Yagi