ILCAAAP News, April 2006, Volume 69, No. 1
Alcohol Awareness Month
Focus on Underage Drinking
April is national Alcohol Awareness Month, and the focus is on underage drinking. Far too many young people are drinking alcohol. Yet many adults refuse to take the problem of underage drinking seriously. Unfortunately, use of alcohol greatly increases the chances that young people will be involved in a car crash, homicide or suicide, the leading causes of death for teenagers and young adults. In fact, a 16-year-old is more likely to die of alcohol-related causes than any other.
Adults also may be ambivalent about underage drinking because they think kids are drinking to relax or have a good time with their friends. What's the harm, they ask, if they're not drinking and driving?
Youth, however, aren't "social drinkers" who enjoy a glass of wine with their meal or go to cocktail parties. Nearly 60% say they drink when they're upset and nearly 40% drink alone. Youth report that when they drink, they usually drink an average of four and a half drinks. Ninety percent of 12th graders report that alcohol is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get. By the time they get to college, a large percentage of them have become "binge drinkers" (they have had five or more drinks in a row during the past two weeks). Recent research shows that over 95 percent of the adults in the United States who are alcohol dependent started drinking before the age of 21.
Young people typically begin using alcohol around the age of 13, long before their minds and bodies are mature enough to handle the effects of this powerful drug. Once kids start drinking, their world suddenly becomes a more dangerous place. Girls are more likely to be forced into unwanted sexual activity, which can result in sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. Boys get into more fights and commit acts of vandalism that may escalate into more serious crimes. The academic and athletic performances of both sexes can suffer. Economically, the consequences of underage drinking are tremendous, totaling more than $53 billion per year, by far the most costly of all drug problems.
In short, if we care about the health and well being of our children, we must do everything we can to discourage them from drinking for as long as possible.
While the issue of underage drinking is a complex problem, one that can only be solved through a sustained and cooperative effort between parents, schools, community leaders, and the children themselves, there are three areas which have proven to be effective in the prevention of underage drinking: curtailing the availability of alcohol, consistent enforcement of existing laws and regulations, and changing norms and behaviors through education. In addition, the alcohol beverage industry has a responsibility to discourage underage drinking and to curtail advertising and marketing which appeal to underage youth.
Let's all wake up to the problem of underage drinking and work together on the solutions. We can't afford to wait any longer.
2006 Alcohol Awareness Month materials, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and Protecting America's Kids from Alcohol, www.GetSerious.org
Surgeon General Issues a Call to Action on Underage Drinking
U. S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, M.D. will issue a Call to Action on Underage Drinking this spring. The Surgeon General, as the Nation's top doctor, issues reports and Calls to Action to focus National attention on important public health issues. Surgeon General Koop's landmark report on tobacco led to a shift in how the nation viewed smoking. The culture surrounding underage drinking has gradually changed. The Surgeon General's report can raise awareness of what has happened so that action can be taken to address the problem.
Legislative Highlights
Alcohol Legislation
SB 2445 - Alcohol Near Schools was amended and passed in the Senate. This bill allows a restaurant to move closer than 100 feet of a school and sell alcohol if it is separated by an alley and the General Superintended and Alderman write a letter to the Liquor Control Commissioner not objecting. Parents, teachers, children, and residents would have no input in this important decision.
SB 2454 - Liquor sales at Historic Sites and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. This bill allows individuals and for-profit organizations to sell and consume alcohol at events they host at these facilities. Note: Abraham Lincoln did not drink alcohol!
SB 2587 - Designee of the Mayor or President of the Board of Trustees of a city, village or incorporated town or the designee of the president or chairman of the county board may be the liquor control commissioner. This bill passed in the Senate.
HB 686 - Bans Alcohol Without Liquid Machines (AWOL). Illinois would join a number of other states in banning these devices that mix alcohol with oxygen, which can be inhaled. This bill passed unanimously in the House and was sent to the Senate.
Medical Marijuana Legislation
SB 2568 - Medical Marijuana bill allows a large quantity of a controlled substance to be placed in the hands of one person. We have compassion for people who are suffering from debilitating illnesses. However, approving medicine by legislative vote sets a dangerous precedent. The U.S Supreme Court ruled that the federal Control Substance Act prevents the cultivation and possession of marijuana, even for personal "medical use". Adolescent marijuana use increased in 8 out of 10 states that legalized medical marijuana.
Anyone 18 years of age or older could possess 24 marijuana plants and 7.5 ounces of useable cannabis to assist 3 "qualifying patients". The bill opens the door to the expansion of other "debilitating medical conditions" that can be treated with medical marijuana without legislative approval. SB 2568 requires marijuana to be grown indoors. This is a danger to police, firefighters, children, and the public. Toxic chemicals and pesticides are used similar to meth. labs. Because of the high humidity required, mold often results, and this mold is highly toxic. The bill could be called for a vote in the Senate after the election.
Gambling Legislation
HB 4363 - Wild About Animals Lottery Scratch Off Ticket passed in the House by the minimum number of votes and has been sent to the Senate. Voters approved the Illinois Lottery over 30 years ago because they believed all of the revenue would be used for schools. This is the third time the General Assembly will vote on a Lottery scratch-off ticket to help fund a program other than education, and will not be the last. Each new ticket means less money for education. The government should not use "compassion for animals" to entice people to gamble.
SB 1991 - Minority and female owners of the Emerald Casino would get favorable consideration if a new license were issued (10th license). This legislation would require the Gaming Board to give favorable consideration to politically connected people who gambled and lost when the Emerald Casino license was revoked. This bill passed in the Senate, and was sent to the House. This is a regulatory decision that should be left to the Gaming Board and the owners of the license.
HB 1917 - Riverboat Casinos will subsidize horse racing by giving 3% of their adjusted gross receipts to the Horse Equity Fund. This bill could be used as a "bargaining chip" to expand the number of slot machines at casinos and double the size of the casinos on land. HB 1917 was a few votes short of passing and was put on "Postpone Consideration", where it could be called for a vote after the election.
HB 4998 - Independent Gaming Board. This bill separates the Illinois Gaming Board from the Illinois Department of Revenue. This bill could be changed and heard in a committee.
SB 198 - Internet Lottery would expand gambling in every home and office with a computer. SB 198 passed in the Senate last year and could be called for a vote after the November election. SB 2378, a second Internet Lottery Bill was heard in a Senate Committee but not called for a vote.
SB 2998 - The Charitable Gambling Act was found unconstitutional because it violated the single subject clause of the Illinois Constitution. This bill would once again legalize charitable gambling-"Casino Nights". SB 2998 passed in the Senate and will be voted on in the House.
HB 5227 - Gambling Skill was amended to allow gambling on electronic video game tournaments and increased the prize level on crane games from $5 to $100. This bill expanded gambling in every community statewide. HB 5337 was defeated in the House by a vote of 6 YES and 95 NO. Your calls made a difference!
Action Alert Network
We invite you to join ILCAAAP's Action Alert Network to keep informed about gambling, alcohol, and drug legislation. The alerts are sent by e-mail or fax. When you receive an Action Alert, you are asked to call your legislators and share the alert with people in your church.
Please call 877-204-6873 or e-mail with your name, address, and phone number to ilcaaap@springnet1.com.
2006 is an Election Year
Let your voice be heard - VOTE!
New Research Underscores Need to Reduce Youth Exposure to Alcohol Ads
Young people exposed to more alcohol advertisements tend to drink more alcohol, according to a new study in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Young people are beginning to drink at an earlier age than ever before, and their actions can have consequences ranging from poor grades to alcoholism and motor vehicle crashes. The alcohol industry in the United States has no federal restrictions on its advertising but is subject to voluntary codes dictating that 70 percent of the audience for their advertisements be adults older than age 21. The authors report that these ads still appear frequently in media more likely to be seen by young people than by adults.
Dr. Leslie B. Snyder, of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and colleagues interviewed a random sample of young people aged 15 to 26 years in 24 U.S. media markets four times between 1999 and 2001.
Young adults who reported viewing more alcohol advertisements on average also reported drinking more alcohol on average -each additional advertisement viewed per month increased the number of drinks consumed by 1 percent. The same percentage increase, 1 percent per advertisement per month, applied to underage drinkers (those younger than age 21) as well.
The authors also analyzed youth drinking in relation to advertising dollars spent in respondents' media markets, based on information purchased from an industry source. They also purchased information about total alcohol sales in each state. "It is important to control total alcohol consumption levels because markets with greater sales may attract more alcohol advertising from brands competing to sell in markets with more heavy drinkers," they write. Even with this control, young people drank 3 percent more per month for each additional dollar spent per capita in their market. Youth in markets with high advertising expenditures ($10 or more per person per month) also increased their drinking more over time, reaching a peak of 50 drinks per month by age 25.
"Given that there was an impact on drinking using an objective measure of advertising expenditures, the results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that a correlation between advertising exposure and drinking could be caused entirely by selective attention on the part of drinkers," the authors report. "The results also contradict claims that advertising is unrelated to youth drinking amounts: that advertising at best causes brand switching, only affects those older than the legal drinking age or is effectively countered by educational efforts. Alcohol advertising was a contributing factor to youth drinking quantities over time."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr David H. Jernigan, of the Center of Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. says the paper "calls into question the industry's argument that its roughly $1.8 billion in measured media expenditures per year have no impact on underage drinking. The fact that young people, regardless of drinking behavior at baseline, were more likely to drink more over time in environments with more alcohol advertising, even when controlling for alcohol sales in those environments, suggests that it is exposure to alcohol advertising that contributes to the drinking, rather than the reverse."
These and other recent findings, Dr. Jernigan writes, "point to alcohol advertising as an important arena for interventions seeking to reduce underage drinking and its tragic consequences."
The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is the first-ever national longitudinal survey of the influence of alcohol advertising on youth.
Reprinted with permission: The Globe, Issue3, 2005/ Issue 1 2006
Prescription Drug Abuse, Smoking Higher Among Teen Girls
More teenage girls than boys now smoke and abuse prescription drugs. Girls also are starting to use marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes at a higher rate than boys, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
The Washington Post reported Feb. 9 that the rise in teen female drug use is opposite overall trends, which indicate less use of illicit drugs.
Increased stress, concerns about appearance, and the need to escape the trauma of physical or sexual abuse are among the factors that may be involved in the trend. "Girls want to do what older guys are doing or they want to be cool," says Meghan Ward, 18, who volunteers with a Connecticut group called Peer Advocates.
Most girls were first-time marijuana users in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and many more used prescription drugs illicitly than boys of the same age.
Reprinted from Join Together Online, 2/9/06.
Female Drinkers Targeted by Alcohol Industry
Women worldwide are drinking more, and the alcohol industry is doing what it can to encourage the trend, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 15.
British "ladettes" have gained an international reputation for heavy drinking (and brawling), but the rise in alcohol consumption among women has become a global phenomenon. Young women in the U.K. and U.S. drank a third more alcohol by volume in 2004 than they did five years prior, researchers said.
The trend has demographic, economic, and cultural aspects, but part of the story is that the alcohol industry is pushing a variety of new products aimed especially at women, including vodka- and liqueur-based drinks. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, is about to unveil a new line of feminine, carbonated fruit drinks under the brand name Peels, while Diageo and other liquor makers have been advertising heavily on cable programs aimed at 18- to 24-year-old women.
In the U.K., there are no less than 81 premixed bottled drinks on store shelves that appeal primarily to women, including a diet version of Bacardi Breezers. Global sales of such "alcopops" topped $22.7 billion last year.
Along with the rise in consumption has come a rise in female violence. "In the traditional pub fight in the past, [women] would have been holding their partners back," said Chris Allison, head of licensing for Great Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers. "Now they are mirroring the behavior of males."
Heavier drinking among women has raised concerns about higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, brain damage, cancer, and heart problems. The American Medical Association charges that alcopops are a way for the alcohol industry to entice teen and young drinkers into drinking harder liquor down the road. The strategy mirrors that of the tobacco industry, which succeeded in increasing the number of women smokers by offering "smooth" and "thin" cigarettes starting in the Sixties and Seventies.
Reprinted with permission from Join Together, February 17,2006