Quicker Liquor

QUICKER LIQUOR
Should we lower the legal drinking age?
By Darshak Sanghavi
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008, at 6:58 AM ET

Last week, a coalition of presidents from more than 100 colleges and universities called on authorities to consider lowering the legal drinking age. The so-called Amethyst Initiative, founded by a fed-up former president of Middlebury College, asserts that "twenty-one is not working" because the current drinking age has led to a "culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking" on college campuses. "How many times," they rhetorically ask, "must we relearn the lessons of prohibition?"

These academic heavyweights—who include the presidents of institutions like Duke, Spelman, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins—believe that lowering the legal drinking age can promote more responsible alcohol use. The familiar argument is that singling out alcohol to make it off-limits is odd, since 18-year-olds may legally join the military, vote, buy cigarettes, and watch porn.

Meanwhile over the past decades, binge-drinking has soared among young people. The 1984 federal law that helps determine the legal drinking age is up for renewal next year, and the college presidents believe this law "stifles meaningful debate" and discourages "new ideas" to stop binge-drinking, like allowing kids over 18 to buy alcohol after a course on its "history, culture, law, chemistry, biology, neuroscience as well as exposure to accident victims and individuals in recovery."

It's a nice to think that simply lowering the drinking age would make college students behave better (as well as cheer loudly). But the Amethyst Initiative—named for the gemstone believed by ancient Greeks to stave off drunkenness—has naively exaggerated the benefits of a lower legal drinking age. They ignore some of the implications of their recommendations, fail to acknowledge their own complicity in the campus drinking problem, and ultimately gloss over better solutions to bingeing. Kind of like addicts might.

In truth, the higher drinking age saves lives and has little relation to college bingeing. Some history: After her daughter was killed by an intoxicated driver, Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving and successfully lobbied for the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act (the law that's up for reauthorization in 2009), which gave full federal highway funds only to states that set the minimum age to purchase or consu me alcohol at 21 years. Most states immediately complied, setting the stage for a national experiment.

According to the federal study Monitoring the Future, underage drinking dropped instantly. From 1977 to 2007, the percentage of 12th graders drinking at least monthly fell from 70 percent to 45 percent—almost immediately after the law was enacted, and lastingly. Fatal car crashes involving drunk young adults dipped 32 percent, resulting in 1,000 fewer lives lost per year. Impressively, this decrease occurred despite minimal efforts at enforcement; the mere presence of the law was protective. The relationship is likely causal. In 1999, by comparison, New Zealand lowered the drinking age from 20 to 18, and fatal crashes soared.* Today, all major public health authorities, including the American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control, National Highway Traffic Safety Board, and surgeon general, support the higher drinking age.

To read the entire contents of this article please go to: http://www.slate.com/id/2198522/

CHI Resolution on Drinking Age Law

Chemical Health Initiative of Goodhue County

Steering Committee Resolution


Whereas, the National Traffic Highway Administration (NHTSA) estimates that the 21minimum drinking age law has saved approximately 900 lives per year since President Reagan signed into law the Uniform Drinking Age Act mandating all states adopt 21 as the legal drinking age and all states came into compliance in 1988; and

Whereas, the NHTSA estimates that more than 17,000 people are alive today since all states came into compliance in 1988; and

Whereas, the drinking age law is one of the nation’s most examined laws with countless studies that have been conducted to measure the law’s effectiveness-all of which have come to the same conclusion: the law saves lives; and

Whereas, the leading cause of death among population ages 16-24 is injury death and 40% of the injury related deaths ages 16-24 involve alcohol; and

Whereas, brain development research has established that the introduction of alcohol upon the young and developing brain carries substantial risk of impairment of normal brain development; and

Whereas, the several states that lowered their minimum drinking age law in the 1970s saw a corresponding increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities; that a return to the 21 minimum drinking age laws in those states saw in a decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities;

NOW THEREFORE, the CHI Advisory Board hereby iterates its unqualified support of the existing 21 year old minimum drinking age law, and establishes for the public record its opposition to any political movement or legislative initiative that would lower the legal drinking age in the State of Minnesota.

Breaking News

• The Goodhue Council is sponsoring a parent program called "Walking the Talk" on Wednesday September 17th at the Goodhue School 7:00 - 9:00 pm. The program is designed to help parents learn to talk with their children about the dangers of alcohol and drug use. Call the Goodhue School to register. There is a $5.00 fee. Registration deadline is September 12th.

• A special thank you to PHanson Marketing for placing CHI advertisements in several local publications over the past weeks. The CHI is very grateful for these in-kind contributions to our cause. A strong and supportive public media sector is critical to the success of our CHI coalition efforts. Thank you PHMarketing!

• SAVE the DATE: The CHI Recovery Community Recognition Picnic is being planned for Sunday September 21, 2008 at the Crossing Park in Zumbrota. This event is being sponsored by several local businesses who are teaming up with the CHI and our Community Councils to show support and appreciation for the important prevention work that is being done by our recovery communities across Goodhue County. Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate the wonderful people and organizations that are working to create healthy families and healthy communities! More details on this event will follow.

• The CHI participated in the Goodhue County Fair activities on Family Day August 7th! It was a family centered event with informational handouts for parents and treats and stickers for the kids. Howie added to the fun with the kids and posed for photographs!

• Everyone is invited to participate in an exciting video filming event taking place in Red Wing on Tuesday August 19th! Bluff Street, between 4th and 6th Streets will be closed off to traffic from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for the actual filming which will begin at 6:45 pm. The filmed scene is simply people dancing in the street behind Andrew as he performs his rap song, Content of Character. Andrew won one of the top prizes in the essay contest at RWHS, sponsored by the Red Wing Chemical Health Council. His rap song was professionally recorded at Mothlab Studios in Minneapolis. Taproot, Inc will be filming the video which will be entered into film festivals!

Community Drug Prevention Project - PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL TEEN RAPPER TO FILM MUSIC VIDEO
Streets Will Be Closed for Dancing and Filming

August 13, 2008: Red Wing, MN-A music video scene of parents and kids dancing in the street will be filmed in the East end of town on Tuesday, August 19th from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Red Wing High School student, Andrew Hoffpauir, will be performing a rap song he recorded called: Content of Character. The public is invited.

Earlier this spring, Andrew wrote a rap song about drug prevention for an essay contest at Red Wing High School. The Red Wing Chemical Health Initiative sponsored the contest in which Andrew won one of the top prizes. His health teacher, Lisa Hanson, referred him to Taproot, Inc. in Bay City, which was searching for a local rapper. The song, Content of Character urges everyone to become the best he or she can be and to shine their own light within their own community and the world at large, “There’s only one world and it’s yours and mine.” The song was professionally recorded at Mothlab Studios in Minneapolis. This was Andrew’s first experience in a professional studio. “I was pretty nervous, my legs got shaky”, he says.

The finished video will be entered into film festivals, specifically the “Filmanthropist” contest; a Minnesota film festival that supports the use of film for community activism. “The use of music, movies and music videos is a great way to educate a community and involve kids in community activism. It is hard work, but it’s also fun and appeals to the kids’ interests”, says Dorothy Halla-Poe, Vice President of Taproot.

Bluff Street, between 4th and 6th Streets will be closed off to traffic from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Practice begins at 5:30 and actual filming will begin at 6:45. The filmed scene is simply people dancing in the street behind Andrew as he performs. Parents are invited to bring their children and join the filming. The music video will be made available to Red Wing’s local Cable Access Channel for viewing and Andrew’s song, Content of Character will be available for download on iTunes as of August 25th.

Taproot, Inc. is located in Bay City, WI. They specialize in designing educational prevention programs using the media arts. Taproot will be offering a movie making after school program through Red Wing Community Education in the fall for middle school students.

For further information, please call Linda Flanders at 715-594-3880 or Email taproot@redwing.net or check their website: www.taprootinc.com

Illegal Liquor Sales

A WCCO news report identified the liquor store clerk from Inver Grove Heights who was sentenced to jail for selling alcohol to a teen-ager without checking for identification. That teenager later got into a car, ran a red light, and killed a University of Minnesota student when she was only blocks away from her home in Apple Valley. The 19 year old driving the car was tested at a .20 BAC; she was eventually given a four-year prison sentence. Vue, the person who illegally sold the teenage driver the alcohol, was sentenced to three months in jail by a Dakota County Judge on August 11th. To learn more about this tragic incident click on http://wcco.com/crime/clerk.convicted.crash.2.793008.html.

Red Wing and Wanamingo City Councils have passed city ordinances requiring all sellers and servers of liquor to complete a responsible beverage service training course and to pass a test that checks their knowledge of Minnesota laws pertaining to alcohol. (The course also provides tips to sellers and servers about detecting underage drinkers who attempting to obtain liquor.) These training ordinances have been proven to reduce the availability of liquor to underage drinkers in communities. When liquor is sold illegally, community residents are placed at risk. The tragedy experienced by the families involved in the drunken teen crash is what the CHI is working to eliminate in Goodhue County. Liquor licensees in Goodhue County do not want to sell liquor illegally. Requiring training courses helps licensees hire and retain employees who are professional and diligent about keeping children and families safe from alcohol-related tragedies.

Alcohol-Driven Offenses Rise Sharply Under 24-hour Licensing in U.K.

An August 10 2008 article in the UK Sunday Telegraph reported a substantial increase in crime has been the result of a new law that extended alcohol serving hours in England and Wales. Police report that "offenses ranging from excessive intoxication to violent behavior are on the rise in nearly every police jurisdiction since new laws allow pubs and clubs to maintain long serving hours." Specifically, public order offenses are up 136% since the longer serving hours went into effect.

This article is particularly interesting in light of the Minnesota legislature's recent decision to allow alcohol serving hours to be extended to 4:00 am in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. It's difficult to understand whose interests are being promoted by allowing the extended serving of alcohol during the Convention. However, it will be important for Minnesota officials to track levels of criminal activity and public disorder problems experienced by law enforcement in the metro area during the period of time of extended hours. Hopefully, we will see signs of the emerging trend toward healthy lifestyles, and longer serving hours in St. Paul will not reflect the experience of London.

Breaking News

• The CHI received confirmation that the FY 2009 Drug Free Communities grant has been approved! This means that the CHI will again receive $100,000 from the federal government to fund prevention programming in Goodhue County Minnesota. These federal dollars cannot be used to pay for direct services to individuals. The DFC grant will only pay for the administrative infrastructure that supports the planning and implementation of environmental prevention strategies at the population level. The CHI uses its federal dollars to support the salary of the School-Based Prevention Specialist, Julie Hatch, and the CHI Community Council Coordinator and Project Manager, Jean Balcome Dicke. The CHI has received the DFC grant award every year since September 2005. The FY 2009 DFC Award Notice means that the CHI prevention work will go on for another year!

• The CHI participated in Zumbrota's National Night Out on Tuesday August 5th! Julie Hatch and Jean Balcome Dicke distributed prevention brochures and informational handouts to parents and the CHI mascot Howie handed out stickers and treats to the kids! CHI sends thanks to the Zumbrota Police Department for sponsoring the National Night Out event and for inviting the CHI to participate!

• The local Community Chemical Health Councils in Red Wing, Cannon Falls and Goodhue have been participating in Sports Registration events at local schools. The local Councils are utilizing these school events to highlight the importance of parent involvement in children's lives. The CHI works to build healthy families and healthy communities by supporting programs and activities are proven to help our children make healthy choices!

Splish Splash Party

The Splish Splash Party at the Goodhue Pool was a big success last week. Although Howie was unable to attend, CHI volunteers served up delicious rootbeer floats for all!