02-27-2002, 03:24 AM
It's awful seeing such blatant disregard for the rules from people in my age group. I mean for shame. The government sets age restrictions for a reason. Oh and you support terrorists with pot and everything.
Underage Drinking at 'Epidemic' Levels
Reuters
Feb 26 2002 9:25PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, encouraged by television ads and parents who see drinking alcohol as a rite of passage, researchers said Tuesday.
The legal U.S. drinking age is 21, but Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found 31 percent of high school students binge drink, defined as five drinks in a row, at least once a month.
"Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in America ... and parents are too often unwitting co-conspirators who tend to see drinking and occasional bingeing as a rite of passage," said Joseph Califano, the group's president and a former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare.
The report, using 1998 statistics, found those under 20 drank 63,230 alcoholic beverages a month, an average of 0.9 a day, and slightly more than 25 percent of the 251,194 alcoholic drinks consumed monthly by the sample as a whole.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States challenged this figure, saying the Columbia group had not properly balanced the data it drew from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. It said the real figure was probably 11 percent or 12 percent.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the government agency overseeing alcoholic drinking, echoed this view, saying its analysis of the 1998 data showed underage drinkers accounted for 11.4 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States that year.
DRINKING UNDER AGE 15
It said "regardless of any discrepancies" in the analysis, "any alcohol use before age 21 is unacceptable."
Califano defended his group's report: "We think our number is right. ... We are not trying to exaggerate ... we are trying to do the best we can. These are estimates," he said.
The Columbia report highlighted the under-15s as an alcoholic trouble spot. Califano said since 1975, the number of children who begin drinking at 15 or under had jumped by almost a third, from 27 percent to 36 percent.
"And those who begin drinking before age 15 are four times likelier to become alcoholics than those who do not drink before age 21," he added.
Underage drinking sporadically hits the headlines, with two notable cases involving President Bush's twin daughters. College students Barbara and Jenna Bush, 20, attended alcohol awareness classes after being charged with underage drinking last year.
Researchers said underage drinking, nudged into second place by drug abuse, is not discussed enough and the Columbia center wants the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to broaden its focus and include alcohol in its media campaigns.
The Columbia report pooled data from five different surveys and separately polled 900 adults to gauge attitudes to alcohol with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Underage Drinking at 'Epidemic' Levels
Reuters
Feb 26 2002 9:25PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, encouraged by television ads and parents who see drinking alcohol as a rite of passage, researchers said Tuesday.
The legal U.S. drinking age is 21, but Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found 31 percent of high school students binge drink, defined as five drinks in a row, at least once a month.
"Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in America ... and parents are too often unwitting co-conspirators who tend to see drinking and occasional bingeing as a rite of passage," said Joseph Califano, the group's president and a former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare.
The report, using 1998 statistics, found those under 20 drank 63,230 alcoholic beverages a month, an average of 0.9 a day, and slightly more than 25 percent of the 251,194 alcoholic drinks consumed monthly by the sample as a whole.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States challenged this figure, saying the Columbia group had not properly balanced the data it drew from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. It said the real figure was probably 11 percent or 12 percent.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the government agency overseeing alcoholic drinking, echoed this view, saying its analysis of the 1998 data showed underage drinkers accounted for 11.4 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States that year.
DRINKING UNDER AGE 15
It said "regardless of any discrepancies" in the analysis, "any alcohol use before age 21 is unacceptable."
Califano defended his group's report: "We think our number is right. ... We are not trying to exaggerate ... we are trying to do the best we can. These are estimates," he said.
The Columbia report highlighted the under-15s as an alcoholic trouble spot. Califano said since 1975, the number of children who begin drinking at 15 or under had jumped by almost a third, from 27 percent to 36 percent.
"And those who begin drinking before age 15 are four times likelier to become alcoholics than those who do not drink before age 21," he added.
Underage drinking sporadically hits the headlines, with two notable cases involving President Bush's twin daughters. College students Barbara and Jenna Bush, 20, attended alcohol awareness classes after being charged with underage drinking last year.
Researchers said underage drinking, nudged into second place by drug abuse, is not discussed enough and the Columbia center wants the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to broaden its focus and include alcohol in its media campaigns.
The Columbia report pooled data from five different surveys and separately polled 900 adults to gauge attitudes to alcohol with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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