Hardy Wiedemann is in recovery for drugs and alcohol and one year sober.
"Probably the first time I got drunk, I was about 13 years old," said Wiedemann.
A new report says the average age when teens had their first drink was 14. Overall 68% said they've had alcohol, of those a quarter of them had their first drink at age 12 or younger. This does not surprise Wiedemann.
"It's a lot about image and kind of how they are perceived to others at the point in their lives," said Wiedemann.
Struggling with alcoholism all through his teenage years, Wiedemann says binge drinking was normal in high school.
"The first time I drank I liked the sensation and like the feeling. They say addicts and alcoholics want to feel different than they normally, so anything that felt different to me was good," said Wiedemann.
Dr. Kitty Harris is the director of Texas Tech's center for the study of addiction and recovery. She says downing five or more alcoholic drinks is considered binge drinking. The study revealed that teens don't consider this much of a problem.
"The consequences of this are much more far reaching than just traffic accidents or being drunk and not remembering where you are or who you were with. Those kinds of things I think for adolescents are devastating experiences that alter their whole life," said Harris.
The study also asked teens if they see "great risk" in drinking that much. Almost half the teens said no.
"That's probably the cancer in all of this, is that the attitude of there's not anything wrong with it and it's no big deal," said Harris.
As a teen, Wiedemann says peer pressure to fit in or to act cool drove him into a destructive state of mind, turning to booze and drugs.
"Unfortunately that's the nature of this disease. I believe it's a disease and that a lot of things are taken from you," said Wiedemann.
"If you look at binge drinking with teenagers and then you think well they are going to get to college and so what are they going to do then. There is a progressive nature in the use of alcohol and drugs," said Harris.
