ILCAAAP News, April 2007, Volume 70, No. 1

Surgeon General Issues Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking

The U.S. Surgeon General appealed to Americans to stop 11 million current underage drinkers from using alcohol and to keep other young people from starting.

Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H., said "Alcohol remains the most heavily abused substance by America's youth. That's why this Call to Action is attempting to change the culture and attitudes toward underage drinking in America. We can no longer ignore what alcohol is doing to our children."

"The adverse consequences of underage drinking are wide-ranging, and include academic failure, risky sexual behavior, injuries and even death. In fact, each year, more that, 5,000 deaths of people under age 21 are linked to underage drinking."

"Recent research shows that the brain continues to develop well beyond childhood and throughout adolescence. This research raises concerns that underage drinking may affect short-term and long-term cognitive functioning, and may change the brain in ways that can lead to future alcohol dependence. Research also shows that young people who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life."

"The bottom line is that research provides more reasons than ever before for parents and other adults to be concerned about the effects of underage drinking on our nation's children, and to take steps to prevent and reduce underage drinking."

The Call to Action identifies six goals developed in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

This Call to Action is a call to every American to join with the Surgeon General in a national effort to address underage drinking early, continuously, and in context of human development.

United Stated Department of Health and Human Services Press Release and Call to Action, March 6, 2007

Staff Activities

In order to give our readers an idea of how and where their donations are allocated, some of our activities are listed on this page.

The ILCAAAP Teen Board gave a presentation to an interdenominational gathering of church youth groups at First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville. Nearly 100 youth and adults were present to watch the prevention skits encouraging youth to be drug-free. The event was a collaborative effort by First Presbyterian Church, Faith Lutheran, Wells Center, and ILCAAAP. Other churches in attendance included Grace United Methodist and Lincoln Avenue Baptist.

ILCAAAP Teen Board members work in small groups during their annual retreat week-end. Teen Board members took part in team building exercises, gave testimonials as to why they need to be drug-free, chose a theme and designed a T-shirt for the Interfaith Youth Prevention Retreat.

Teens participate in rock-wall climbing as part of a team-building exercise at the Interfaith Youth Prevention Retreat held at Nazarene Acres in Mechanicsburg. Forty two high school students from 8 high schools attended this event sponsored by ILCAAAP/Illinois Churches In Action on March 2-4. The program included prevention and leadership training, education about alcohol and addictions, traffic safety information, and spirituality.

Legislation Highlights

Alcohol Legislation

House Bill 247 increases penalties for second DUI conviction if transporting children at the time.

House Bill 592 provides drivers give consent to have saliva tested for drugs or alcohol.

House Bill 1403 includes places of worship, parsonage, and former church facilities in areas where a person can be prosecuted for aggravated participation in methamphetamine manufacturing

Senate Bill 158 increases penalties for adults who serve alcohol to minors

Senate Bill 123 & House Bill 429 allow direct shipment of wine to Illinois homes.

Senate Bill 311 allows exemptions for the sale of alcohol closer than 100 feet of a church or school.

Senate Bill 1625 prohibits sponsorship of alcopops at athletic events where children are the primary audiene and advertising alcopops on billboards near schools, parks, and churches.

Gambling Expansion Legislation

Many expansion gambling bills have been introduced during the Spring Legislative Session. Many gambling "shell" bills have also moved forward, and language could be placed in these bills at the end of session once a "back room deal" has been worked out. The follow has been proposed:

Call your State Representative and Senator (217-782-2000) and the Governor (800-642-3112) NOW and ask them to oppose all bills that expand gambling in Illinois.

HB 1124 Expands Gambling in Every Community Statewide

House Bill 1124 will legalize gambling contests on electronic video games in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, truck stops, convenience stores, arcades, and other locations. A bona fide contest is defined as being between 2 or more individuals. Hundreds of thousands of "contests" could be played throughout the state each year. Many children and young people already play electronic video games. The rate of compulsive gambling is much higher for adolescents than for adults. Young adults grew up playing video games and would be vulnerable to this type of gambling. Prizes, awards or compensation-money-would attract young people to this type of activity, and many would become addicted.

Research has shown that gamblers take more risks and play longer when they are drinking alcohol. Gambling in bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys where alcohol is served will encourage people to stay longer to gamble and drink. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission received testimony that convenience gambling, such as electronic devices in neighborhood outlets, provides fewer economic benefits and creates potentially greater social costs by making gambling more available and accessible.

Call the Governor (800-642-3112) and your state legislators (217-782-2000) to voice your concerns.

Privatizing the Lottery will expand gambling

The Governor proposed selling or leasing the Illinois Lottery. A private company will need to expand the Lottery to increase sales through Keno, Video Lottery Terminals, and Internet Lottery. These forms of gambling are very fast and very addictive.

Video Lottery Terminals are electronic gambling machines similar to slot machines. Iowa banned these machines less than one year after they were legalized because of the public outcry. If the Illinois Lottery is sold or leased, the Illinois General Assembly would not be able to rein it in like they did in Iowa.

There are only a few Lottery companies in the world. An Italian Lottery company recently bought out one of the world's largest lottery operating companies, GTECH. If this foreign company should be the highest bidder for the Illinois Lottery, they could expand gambling in homes through the Internet.

Unlike the state operated Lottery, a private company could target marketing and advertise heavily to the poor and the addicted. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission funded a study that found the top 5 percent of people who played the Lottery accounted for 54% of the sales. "Males, blacks, high-school dropouts, and people in the lowest-income category are heavily over-represented among those who are in the top 20 percent of Lottery players." (Clotfeter, Cook, Edell & Moore, Duke University, April 23, 1999, p. 13)

More than 100 years ago the Louisiana Lottery-- run by a private corporation from 1868 to 1895--was the most corrupt lottery in the nation. State constitutions throughout the country were changed to ban lotteries because of all the corruption.

Contact the Governor and State Legislators to voice your concerns.

Senate Bill 650 Legalizes Marijuana as Medicine

Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems (ILCAAAP) has compassion for all people who suffer from debilitating illnesses. We have personal experience through our staff and board of serious medical conditions. Because of this insight, discussions with doctors, and our knowledge of the marijuana movement, we oppose the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.

Marijuana has not been approved as a beneficial drug by the FDA. The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana be retained as a Schedule 1 drug pending the outcome of well-controlled studies of marijuana. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Controlled Substances Act prevents the cultivation and possession of marijuana, even by people for personal "medical" use.

The perception of marijuana as medicine leads teenagers to believe that marijuana is not a harmful drug. This could lead to increased illegal drug use. Adolescent marijuana use increased in 8 out of 10 states that legalized medical marijuana. (Data from National Household Survey on Drug Use & Health, CEDARS) Illinois already has a marijuana problem. In 2004 there were 32,961 admissions for marijuana treatment in Illinois. That is an increase of 22% for Cook County and 29% for the entire state from 2001 to 2004. (IL. Dept. of Human Services, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse)

SB 650 would allow a large quantity of a controlled substance to be placed in the hands of one person. Anyone 18 years or older could assist up to 3 qualifying patients in the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, delivery, transfer, or transportation of cannabis or paraphernalia relating to the consumption of cannabis to alleviate the patient's medical condition. This person could possess 12 cannabis plants and 2.5 ounces of usable cannabis for each qualifying patient. A teenager, 18 years or older, could be in possession of 36 marijuana plants and 7.5 ounces of usable cannabis.

SB 650 limits home rule and requires a municipality to allow one registered agency to operate where zoning permits retail businesses in a municipality of 50,000 or more and 15 registered agencies in Chicago. A registered agency could have an unlimited number of patients and be located in areas where families and children shop.

For additional information, go to www.ilcaaap.org. Call the Governor and state legislators to voice your concerns.

New Report Finds Half of College Students Binge Drink, Abuse Prescription and Illegal Drugs

Nearly One in Four Meet Medical Criteria for Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Dependence

Forty-nine percent (3.8 million) of full time college students binge drink and/or abuse prescription and illegal drugs, according to "Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America's Colleges and Universities," a new report by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The study also finds that 1.8 million full-time college students (22.9 percent) meet the medical criteria for substance abuse and dependence, two and one half times the general population who meet these same criteria.

The comprehensive report is the most extensive examination ever undertaken of the substance abuse situation on the nation's college campuses.

"It's time to get the 'high' out of higher education," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. "Under any circumstances acceptance by administrators, trustees, professors and parents of this college culture of alcohol and other drug abuse is inexcusable. In this world of fierce global competition, we are losing thousands of our nation's best and brightest to alcohol and drugs, and in the process robbing them and our nation of their promising futures." The report finds that from 1993 to 2005 there has been no real decline in the proportion of students who drink (70 to 68 percent) and binge drink (40 to 40 percent). However, the intensity of excessive drinking and rates of drug abuse have jumped sharply:

Between 1993 and 2001 the proportion of students who binge drink frequently is up 16 percent; those who drink on 10 or more occasions in a month, up 25 percent; those who get drunk at least three times a month, up 26 percent; and those who drink to get drunk, up 21 percent.

Between 1993 and 2005 the proportion of students abusing prescription drugs increased:

Between 1993 and 2005, the proportion of students who use marijuana daily more than doubled, and those who use cocaine, heroin, and other illegal drugs (except marijuana) is up 52 percent.

What's the Problem?

Nearly 38 percent of college administrators say the major barrier to more effective prevention is the public perception that substance abuse by college students is a normal rite of passage.

"College presidents are reluctant to take on issues they feel they cannot change and this growing public health crisis reflects today's society where students are socialized to consider substance abuse a harmless rite of passage and to medicate every ill," said Reverend Edward A. Malloy, CSC, Chair, The CASA Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and Universities II and President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame. "To change this culture, college and university presidents need help from parents, alumni, students, Greek and athletic organizations, state and federal governments."

"College presidents, deans and trustees have facilitated a college culture of alcohol and drug abuse that is linked to poor student academic performance, depression, anxiety, suicide, property damage, vandalism, fights and a host of medical problems," noted Califano. "Their acceptance of a status quo of rampant alcohol and other drug abuse puts the best and the brightest -- and the nation's future -- in harm's way."

Source: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, March 15, 2007. www.casacolumbia.org

The Case For Lowering Legal BAC Levels Even More

All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico now make it a crime to drive with a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or more. And, a new review of research from around the world makes a case for lowering the limit even more.

The review was done by James Fell and Richard Voas from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a nonprofit group in Calverton, MD.

Fell and Voas report that when the United States lowered the legal BAC limits from.10 to the current .08, alcohol-related crashes and injuries dropped by an average of 7 to 8 percent. In countries where the limit was lowered to .05 BAC, additional reductions took place.

"There is clear, strong evidence that lowering the BAC limit is effective," said Fell, who has studied impaired driving for 30 years. "Whether it's lowered from .10 or from .08 to .05, the number of deaths and injuries from drunk drinking will be reduced and lives will be saved."

The review by Fell and Voas, which is the latest summary of relevant research, makes several points to support BAC limits lower than .08 percent:

There is a worldwide trend to totally separate drinking and driving," says Steve Simon, a clinical professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and director of the DWI Task Force for the Minnesota Criminal Justice System. "The research shows that any amount of alcohol in a driver's system increases the risk of being involved in a crash.

Simon believes that the movement to reduce legal BAC limits to .05 in the United States will be "a very long, slow process" - one that could take 10 to 20 years. Even so, he says, this movement will succeed.

Impaired driving affects one in three Americans during their lifetime.

Doug Taft is a freelance writer based in Minneapolis, MN.

Reprinted with permission from Join Together, November 22, 2006

Early-Age Drinkers Rely on Alcohol As a Stress Reliever

People who start drinking alcohol at a young age are more likely to drink a lot when they get older - and to get into trouble with it. That's been known for a while and is not much of a surprise.

A new study, however, sheds important light on one reason that early drinkers often become heavy-or dependent - older drinkers.

It's because they are more likely to use alcohol as a "stress reducer" than do people who began drinking at an older age. Alcohol, it seems, becomes an overused tool for weathering the vicissitudes of adulthood if a person first uses it as a young teenager.

Deborah A. Dawson of the federal government's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, analyzed the responses of nearly 27,000 people in a nationally representative survey of Americans and their drinking habits.

The respondents, average age 43, were asked when they started drinking, and how much they drank now and whether they had experienced any of 12 stressful events in the previous year. The events include such things as death of a family member, financial crises, marital disruption and loss of a job.

Regardless of when people started drinking, alcohol use increased with the number of stressful events a person experienced. People who started drinking at 14 or younger and reported six or more "stressors" in the previous year consumed an average of six drinks a day - five times the amount of similarly stressed people who started drinking at 18 or older.

The early drinkers increased their alcohol intake 19 percent with each additional stressful event they suffered, compared with only 3 percent by the later-starting drinkers.

The trend of youthful drinkers growing into adults who rely on alcohol to cope was evident even when the scientists considered only events that heavy drinking was not likely to have caused - things such as the death or illness of a family member, a new living situation or a change in work hours.

The study is published in this month's Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Reprinted with permission from washingtonpost.com, Thursday January 11, 2007;A02, David Brown Author

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