ILCAAAP News, December 2004, Volume 67, No. 4
Is Alcohol A Parental Blind Spot?
By Susan Cheever
We live the most examined lives in history, and nothing is more examined than the way we raise our kids. News articles and television specials alert us to the dangers that lurk everywhere in this hostile world: childhood obesity, too much television, movie violence, sexual predators, guns, inadequate schooling, unsafe sex, and cigarette smoking.
We are worried all the time. When I walk out the door, leaving my 14-year-old son at home, I pray that he is not using his time alone to sniff the glue he uses to make Warhammer figures or turning on his computer to download Internet porn.
When he walks out the door, leaving me at home, my anxiety level spikes. I tell myself that I trust him, and I do. Trust is everything. Then why do I have fantasies about implanting a GPS device in his sneaker?
Strangely, one of our most frightening health problems--underage drinking--seems to hover near the bottom of our list of concerns. A bipartisan bill is pending before the House and Senate (H.R. 4888 and S.2718) which would allocate about $20 million for strategies to curb underage drinking. Many of these strategies were suggested in a National Academy of Sciences report issued a year ago. Sometimes our government seems more worried than we are.
Although we are shocked when our kids do diet pills or smoke cigarettes, drinking too much is often an expected rite of passage. At college it’s more acceptable to get hammered than to get Cs.
The majority of our kids have had a drink by the time they are 13, and 20 percent of those say they have been drunk at least once. Almost 7 million teenagers are binge drinkers who down five drinks in a row, according to statistics from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency. Since the adolescent brain is still developing, teenage drinking can cause irreversible brain and neurological damage.
Underage drinking accounts for 20 percent of all drinking in the United States. The damage done by this drinking costs us $58 billion a year, according to recent studies, to say nothing of the high-risk sex and personal violence with which it is associated. It is a key factor in all four leading causes of teenage death: car crashes, accidents, homicide and suicide. A few beers don’t run a teenage tippler into an alcoholic, of course, but teenagers who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become dependent on alcohol than those who put off drinking until the legal age of 21.
Teenage drinking is on the rise. Our kids can’t smoke or do drugs with our blessing, but they can have a keg party and maybe we’ll even join them. Most teenagers get their alcohol from adults, and studies show that many adults underestimate the extent of underage alcohol abuse.
We were outraged when our children got a glimpse of female anatomy during the Super Bowl broadcast, but the fact that they also were bombarded with ads for this country’s No. 1 drug seemed to escape our notice.
When my daughter was 14, she decided to do a study for school on the availability of alcohol. I gave her a $20 bill and assured her that she wouldn’t be able to buy booze in our neighborhood. We live in a leafy enclave where everyone knows everyone. What kind of local shopkeeper would sell liquor to a ninth-grader? In the time it took to do a load of wash, my daughter was back home with a six-pack of Budweiser.
This country has an instructive history when it comes to drinking. In the early 19th century, many children drank a warming, energizing combination of juice and grain alcohol called "flip" before heading off to school in the morning. By the time they got home, their parents were usually a little drunk--the average householder drank almost three times as much as we do today.
This national orgy of alcohol consumption, with its predictable results, provoked a powerful temperance movement, which ultimately led to the passage of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition in 1920. Our average alcohol consumption dipped dramatically.
The 18th Amendment was repealed for many reasons and with great celebration in 1933. Since then, levels of alcohol consumption have been rising steadily. What do they say about people who forget the past? Let’s not let them say that about us.
Reprinted with permission from Newsday, September 22, 2004
Changes in Alcohol Laws
California vinters have traditionally relied on wine tastings to boost sales, an advantage the wine industry has held over distilled spirits. Times are changing according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Liquor stores are doing everything from demonstrating how to sauté’ shrimp in vodka to throwing Caribbean-themed parties, complete with rum samples and island music.
Until recently, it was illegal in the vast majority of states for liquor stores and other retailers to give customers samples of spirits. But changes in state laws have eliminated these bans, which had been in place since Prohibition. In July, Colorado became the eighth state in four years to allow liquor stores to offer free samples of everything from microdistilled vodka to simple-malt scotch to customers. Today, 23 states plus Washington, D. C., allow liquor-store sampling.
The legal changes come at a time when states are revising much of the legislation that addresses where, when and how people consume alcohol. This past summer, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Ohio altered their "blue laws", legislation that made it illegal to sell spirits on Sunday. In the past 2 ½ years, 10 states have done away with similar restrictions; today there are 31 states that allow Sunday sales. States are also changing laws that restrict consumers from receiving shipments of wine from out-of-state wineries.
The shift toward more liberal spirits sales can be partly attributed to aggressive lobbying by the alcohol industry. The Distilled Spirits Council, a Washington-based trade group representing companies that sell spirits (as opposed to beer or wine), say it has made changing blue laws and tastings laws its mission in recent years. Companies want to allow tastings because customers are reluctant to buy spirits--especially expensive ones--if they’ve never tried them.
The job of persuading legislators to make changes in liquor laws was made easier by the budget crises that have hit many states in recent years, says Frank Coleman, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council. As state budgets have been crunched, raising money through increased alcohol sales has become more attractive.
Reprinted from Monday Morning Report, October 18, 2004, Vol. 28, No. 20
Local Option Referendum -- Wet/Dry Vote
"Dry" communities throughout Illinois will be urged to change their law to allow the sale of alcohol. In order to get on the April 5 ballot, petitions must be submitted by January 18. If your community has a Local Option question on the ballot, contact ILCAAAP for technical assistance and information about the problems of alcohol.
Gambling Legislation
Lawmakers did not pass any gambling expansion bills during the November Veto Session. They have two additional days--January 10 and 11--before the Veto session officially closes.
A Chicago Tribune poll found that 64% of Illinois voters oppose more casinos to help solve the state’s budget problems. All states are experiencing budget problems. Gambling comes with a high price to individuals and families: addiction, bankruptcy, crime, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and suicide.
Gambling expansion will be an issue in the Spring Legislative Session, which begins on January 12. Some of the expansion legislation being proposed includes: additional casinos in Chicago, Waukegan, South Suburbs, and Rockford, video slots at racetracks, expansion of current casinos.
Contact your state Senator and Representative in their district offices and ask them to OPPOSE the expansion of gambling in Illinois. Call (800-642-3112) or send a note to the Governor asking him to keep his promise not to expand gambling.
Legislators Override SB 2460 -- Tribal Gambling
The General Assembly voted to override the Governor’s veto of SB 2460 in the Veto Session. This bill requires the governor to receive legislative approval before entering into a compact with a Native American tribe to authorize the tribe to conduct gambling in Illinois.
The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin has made offers to purchase 300 acres of land in Lynwood, Illinois for a proposed casino and entertainment complex. A grassroots group, Citizens for Our Community, came to the capitol during the veto session to lobby against the casino. Their community of Lansing recently passed a resolution opposing the tribal casino.
Action Alert Network
Legislation can move very quickly. To keep our readers informed and alerted for action on gambling and alcohol legislation, we invite you to join ILCAAAP’s Action Alert Network. The alerts are sent to you by fax or e-mail. When you receive an Action Alert, you will be asked to call your legislators and share the alert with people in your church.
Please fax or e-mail your name and address to ILCAAAP at ilcaaap@springnet1.com or fax number 217-546-2814.
Gambling Among Adolescents and Young Adults Associated with Psychiatric Problems
Adolescents and young adults who gamble are more likely than non-gamblers to have substance use disorders and psychiatric problems, according to an article in the November issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
According to the article, about 9 million adults are classified as problem gamblers and another 3 million are pathological gamblers. Adult pathological gambling is associated with substance use problems, depression, psychiatric treatment, poor health, arrest, and incarceration. Fifty to 90 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 years old reported gambling within the past year, even though gambling is largely illegal among adolescents. The same problems associated with gambling are found in adolescents who gamble heavily, including substance use and depression.
The researchers found that adolescent gamblers were more likely to report gambling for social reasons rather than to win money, and were less likely to have large wins or losses. Adolescent gamblers were also less likely than early-onset adult gamblers to gamble weekly or daily.
The researchers conclude that "Adolescent-onset gambling is associated with more severe psychiatric problems, particularly substance use discords, in adolescents and young adults."
November 1, 2004 press release from JAMA and Archives Journals
Study: College Binge Drinking a Bigger Problem
New research indicates that binge drinking among male college students may be much worse than reported in previous studies, Reuters reported on September 9.
According to the new study by the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, some college students drink more than 20 alcoholic drinks in a row when partying--ingesting dangerous amounts of alcohol in the process.
While most research defines binge drinking as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a row, few studies count how much more past the five drinks that students consume.
In surveying 1,000 male college drinkers, the researchers found that the majority had consumed 24 or more drinks in a row.
"These are levels of drinking at which most men will have passed out or become comatose," said Paul Gruenewald, who led the study. "These are levels at which drinkers are at risk for the very serious problems posed by peak drinking, including alcohol poisoning,"
The study showed that students had 12 or more alcoholic drinks in a row at least 10 percent of the time.
"When you see just how much some students may drink, it’s easier to understand how these young people may suffer from many alcohol-related accidents and injuries, some as simple as falling out of a dormitory window," said Gruenewald.
Reprinted from Join Together Online, September 16, 2004
Hiding Drug Use from Doctors Could Be Risky
People who consume alcohol or use illegal drugs could face complications with routine surgical procedures, such as a wisdom-tooth extraction, if they don’t tell their oral or maxillofacial surgeon about their drug use, according to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
"Illicit drugs and anesthesia can mix in some potentially hazardous ways," said Sue Carlisle, Ph.D., M.D., chief of anesthesia and perioperative care at San Francisco General Hospital. "Since few abusers of controlled substances readily admit drug use to their doctors, it’s important for OMSs to recognize the signs and symptoms of drug abuse and be prepared to intervene."
According to Carlisle, the signs and symptoms of alcohol and other drug misuse include unusual changes in blood pressure or heart rate, unexpected flushing of the skin, and exaggerated reactions to anesthetic drugs.
Since many patients are hesitant to report drug use to doctors, Carlisle recommended that the information be elicited through non-threatening questions, such as "Do you smoke?" and "How much alcohol do you drink?" Those questions could lead into inquiries like, "Do you use any non-prescription drugs or street drugs?"
"If you work up to it gradually, patients will usually tell the truth," Carlisle said.
Reprinted from Join Together, September 16, 2004