Choose Responsibility

Happy Independence Day from the whole team at Choose Responsibility. We hope you and your loved ones have a relaxing and safe holiday weekend. Remember: the Fourth of July is one of the most dangerous holidays of the year for drunk driving. According to NHTSA statistics, 34% of all drivers involved in traffic crashes during the 2007 July 4th holiday period possessed a BAC of .08 or higher. Please drive safely, and bring a designated driver if you plan on drinking.

It’s been another busy week at the [CR] office in DC, as we prepare to make the case for change to state Senators and Representatives from across the country at the NCSL and ALEC conferences later in the month. Visit the link to our campaign to help us get there! And now, the week’s news…

Stories this week:

Greg Esposito of The Roanoke Times continued his “Under 21″ series with an in-depth interview with [CR] President John McCardell. Check out what he had to say, and watch an exclusive video clip of the interview, at the Times’ online edition.

Maryland’s Gaithersburg Gazette published a letter to the editor by Mauricio Garcia, who questioned the disparity between the age of majority and the legal drinking age. He argued that in addition to changing our alcohol laws, we should consider raising the driving age, in order to prevent more traffic accidents caused by inexperienced drivers. What do you think? Join the discussion in the comments below.

More news from Maryland: Lauren Redding of the University of Maryland’s Diamondback Online put some recent statistics about collegiate binge drinking into context on her campus: Warren Kelley, an Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, warned about the dangers of these upward trends, saying, “National trends getting worse are quite concerning. Our students aren’t immune from the direction of society and culture, and if it continues to get worse, I suspect we’ll see the evidence here as well.”

In other news…

A study published in the July issue Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that prevention programs on a community level can help curb off-campus drinking by college students. Half of the students participated in a program called Neighborhoods Engaging with Students (NEST) which involved open dialogues about the drinking culture between students, neighbors and law enforcement officials. Drinking among participating students fell by 27 percent compared to the control group. Though the long term effects of the NEST program remain to be seen, it’s possible that programs which emphasize meaningful “town-gown” connections can help curb dangerous drinking.

Writing in The Houston Chronicle, Alan Reed shared students’ perspectives on a recent study showing the increase in binge drinking incidents in college-age women. According to the study, the “gender gap” on binge drinking appears to be narrowing: in 2006, almost 39 percent of women ages 21 to 23 reported that they binge drink. On researcher attributes the rise in binge drinking to the effects of widespread alcohol advertising: underage women saw 68 percent more beer ads and 95 percent more alcopops advertising in 2002 compared to what women of legal age were seeing. When Reed went looking for a student’s take on this issue, he spoke with Sarah Brown, a student at Texas State University, who said, “there’s a lot of guys who want to drink as much as they possibly can, and there’s a lot of girls who want to keep up with those guys. I’ve seen people pass out on sidewalks, pass out in dorms, pass out anywhere.” These upward trends can have dire consequence: after all, alcohol contributes to 97,000 cases of sexual assault on college campuses every year. Clearly, something about our approach to alcohol education isn’t working very well, and it’s time to consider a change in the status quo.

A New York Times editorial this week also took a look at the same study. The editorial, which chided “College presidents who have been blaming drinking-age laws for drunkenness at their schools had better look at their own policies,” called on colleges to take more forceful steps to curb binge drinking. The Times neglected to consider that the fact that binge drinking rates among 18-23 year old male students have remained essentially flat since 1979, and have significantly increased for their female counterparts is not evidence of colleges ignoring the problem, or abdicating responsibility. Quite the opposite–these increases have taken place during a period when there has been increased study of and attention to the dangers of binge drinking on virtually every campus in the nation. This problem is a cultural one, and the results of this study, which are purely correlational, show not that the 21 year-old drinking age has been effective, but that it is time for new strategies and a fresh approach to the toxic drinking that is killing too many young people–both those in college and out of college–every day.

As a reminder, the [CR] officer will be closed in observance of the federal Independence Day holiday on Friday, July 3rd. Enjoy the fireworks this weekend!

Freelance journalist Pablo Andreu has an op-ed in the Kansas City Star today, arguing that the 21 year old drinking age is contributing to a dangerous culture of binge drinking on and off campus. Andreu wrote about Kansas University first-year Jason Wren, who died from alcohol poisoning after a night of hard drinking in March, and then offered his take on steps to prevent similar tragedies from occurring:

Lowering the drinking age to 18 is not a cure-all, but it’s a good start. Just as drunken driving is part of the broader issue of irresponsible drinking, binge drinking is part of the broader issue of binge culture. America is a country that oscillates between ascetic self-deprivation and extravagant excess… The solution is long term and difficult to assess: Lead America’s youth by example. Let’s drink moderately, eat moderately and live moderately.

Here at [CR] we’re working to broaden the public debate to address all the dangers of excessive alcohol use among young people, not just those that happen on the road. In Kansas, and many other states, legal age 21 remains an obstacle to tackling binge drinking head-on.

Have you tried writing your own letter to the editor? Did you publish something in your local paper on this issue? Let us know in the comments.

Greg Esposito of the Roanoke Times recently interviewed [CR] President John McCardell for the second installment of the Times‘ “Under 21″ series, which focuses on the issues of underage and toxic drinking on local college campuses. The in-depth interview (which includes video) is available here, and you can also check out part one to get up to speed on the series.

Major preparations are underway for Choose Responsibility’s appearances at the upcoming ALEC and NCSL conferences in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Here in our Washington office, we’re starting to pull together some new materials and different technologies that will allow us to make the most of these two events. Remember, you can help us get there – join our fundraising campaign on Change.org to find out how. If you’re able to raise $100 by July 15^th, we’ll send you a free [CR] t-shirt just to say thanks. Here are the latest headlines from around the country:

Stories this week:

Alex Ebert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote about the University of Minnesota’s new policy that bans all alcohol sales at the new TCF Stadium. Interestingly, the news received a mixed reaction from the Star Tribune’s readership: Gina Stocks of Edina, MN, wrote, “Perhaps Minnesota could choose to be a leader in encouraging people to make responsible choices in an equitable environment. It seems to me that binge drinking and alcohol availability at the stadium are two very separate issues. As a parent, I believe that the former should be the one the U concerns itself with, not the latter.” What do you think of the new policy? Is the alcohol ban a good idea, or will the policy encourage more binge drinking prior to games?

More letters to the editor this week: Taylor Blackwell wrote to the Chicago-area Daily Herald about the “massive failure” that is Legal Age 21. Blackwell would rather see parents have the opportunity to educate their young adults in a meaningful way: “Let parents teach their kids moderation while they are still at home. It’s almost impossible to contain it using law enforcement. The harder police crack down, the farther underground they drive it.”

We’re not in a position to offer comment on Carlos Watson’s recent health care proposal at The Stimulist, but we certainly agree with his reasoning on the drinking age: “In short, it is high time that the U.S. got with the rest of the world not just on universal health care, but a sensible drinking age. This ‘new era of responsibility’ demands nothing less.”

In other news…

Dr. Neil Bernstein’s column in the Wednesday edition of the Washington Examiner highlights the difficulties parents have in trying to teach their young adults about responsible alcohol consumption under Legal Age 21. After all, if parents “loosen the reins a bit,” they’re condoning lawbreaking behavior. Perhaps it’s time to consider a change so that parents won’t have to send mixed messages about alcohol?

Check out the Charlotte Observer’s report on a recent teen health survey done in North Carolina - the results indicate that binge drinking is on the rise.

Did we miss something in this week’s updates? Leave us a link in the comments if you have a news story to share.

Maria de la Garma, a community columnist with the Salincas Californian, published a column called “Time Has Come For Lower Drinking Age” in this past Saturday’s edition of the paper. In her article, de la Garma concludes with a strong point about the age of majority: “full adulthood equals full rights. If the state recognizes an 18-year-old as a full adult, then he/she should be treated as such.” Check out the rest of her column and let us know what you think.

Early this week, the NIAAA released updated statistics that show an increase in binge drinking and alcohol-related non-traffic deaths among the 18-24 age population from 1998 to 2005. These new numbers clearly indicate that our current approach to alcohol education isn’t working - the problems continue to get worse despite millions of dollars spent on prevention campaigns. When asked for comment, [CR] President John McCardell told Inside Higher Ed’s Stephanie Lee that in light of these increases, “it’s hard for me to say that a law that says you may not drink until you’re 21 can be deemed successful.” Here are some other noteworthy news items from the week, many of which reference these statistics:

Stories this week:

Following up on his article called “Teach Drinking” in the latest issue of The Atlantic, Dr. McCardell joined Air America’s Ron Reagan for a segment on The Ron Reagan Show Thursday night. You can listen to the segment in the Air America archives (subscription required - look for the 6/18/09 full show).

Wendy Melillo, a contributor at MediaPost and an Assistant Professor at American University’s School of Communication, wrote a blunt summary of many college students’ attitudes about alcohol in the introduction to her article about a new responsible drinking campaign at Syracuse University: “When the adults finally shut up and asked college students what would solve the problem of binge drinking on college campuses, they got revealing answers. No federal law will stop us from drinking alcohol, students said. What we need is to be taught to drink responsibly — so we don’t do something stupid.” Read the rest of her article for the details on the new program at Syracuse.

Did you catch the coverage of SUNY Stony Brook’s Red Watch Band in USA Today earlier in the week? If not, it’s available here.

In other news…

Via the Associated Press, the Miami Herald reported on a new study performed by researchers at the Florida Department of Children and Families which highlights the economic costs of underage drinking in Florida. Could you have guessed that underage drinking costs the state a total of $3 billion annually, including $316 million just to deal with violent crime committed by underage drinkers?

In another Inside Higher Ed piece, Stephanie Lee wrote about new efforts by college administrators to tame heavy Thursday night drinking by adjusting class schedules. These strategies emerged as a result of a 2008 study conducted at Loyola University in Maryland which showed that “students without Friday classes reported drinking an average of 3.38 drinks the day before, roughly four times more than those with a Friday class before 10 a.m.”

Did you catch something that we missed? Leave a link in the comments.

Jim Farrell of the Hartford Courant’s iTowns blog for Manchester and East Hartford wrote a post this week called “Rethinking Underage Drinking,” and in it, he discussed some potential alternatives to Legal Age 21. He believes his proposal, which would lower the drinking age to 18 for bars, restaurants, and sanctioned events, would make it less likely that young adults would “have their first (and second, and third, and fourth …) drinks during an endless game of beer pong in the basement of some unsupervised off-campus apartment and wind up drowning in their own puke.” What do you think of his proposal? Read the rest of the post and leave a note in the comments.

[CR] President John McCardell has published a new piece in the “Ideas: Fixing the World” section of the July/August issue of The Atlantic. In his essay, he wrote that our current approach to alcohol education “has been about as effective as a parachute that opens on the second bounce.” If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a hard copy of the magazine, you can read the rest of his essay here.

Over the weekend, Jillian Berman of USA Today spoke to Jenny Hwang, an Associate Dean at Stony Brook University, about the school’s Red Watch Band program. Nearly 100 schools across the country have expressed an interest in the project, which provides students with CPR and alcohol-related emergency training. “Our students absolutely need to know how to stay alive, and we need to be doing something to equip them and empower them to create a culture where they can look out for each other and care about each other,” Hwang said.

Want to help [CR] design some new, catchy stickers that you can put on your cars and pass out to your friends? Remember to cast your vote in our sticker survey – some of you may recognize the old design from [CR] volunteer packs, but we’re considering a new look. Let us know which one you like best. Here’s the latest round-up of [CR] headlines from around the country:

Stories this week:

[CR] President John McCardell was a guest on “The Say Anything Show” with Rob Port on WZFG-AM in Fargo, North Dakota on Tuesday night. You can listen to the segment here – look for the 6/9/09 program in the audio player. Dr. McCardell joins Rob about 31:00 into the show.

What sparked Dr. McCardell’s appearance on the Say Anything show, you ask? Newly-released data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicates that North Dakota has the highest rates of binge and underage drinking in the nation – the Bismarck Tribune reported that “40 percent of North Dakotans ages 12 to 20 had at least one drink during the month before the survey was taken.” In addition, 32% of North Dakotans over the age of 12 engaged in binge drinking in the month before the survey. The numbers were collected in 2006 and 2007, and USA Today has lists of the highest and lowest-ranked states for both binge and underage drinking.

Creston News Advertiser columnist Tyler Ellyson wrote about the drinking age debate this week, and at the end of his column, he asked a simple question: “Why not give the citizens who are mature enough to vote and fight overseas a chance to prove their maturity when it comes to alcohol?”

The Albany Times Union reported earlier this week that Siena College in Loudonville, NY is now among a group of 60 colleges in 22 states that have decided to implement the Red Watch Band program next fall. The anti-binge drinking program, which began at Stony Brook University, aims to educate students about the dangers of reckless drinking and the signs of alcohol poisoning. (Scroll down on the Times Union link for the full story.)

In other news…

Did you catch the Washington Post story about a nationwide collegiate advertising contest intended to get students to think more about the dangers of binge drinking? If not, you can read about the participants and the contest here.

From the Journal of Mixed Methods Research comes new evidence that binge drinking is a serious problem for members of the armed services. A new study on the U.S. Navy suggested that the culture of the Navy workplace can contribute to higher rates of dangerous drinking among enlisted members than civilians. Clearly, a new approach to alcohol education is necessary if we hope to make a positive impact on young servicemembers.

Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments.