MESSAGE FOR YOUTH NEEDS PROPER PLANNING

Many people remember the TV commercial of the young man holding a raw egg,
calling it a brain, throwing it onto a hot skillet and saying: "This is
your brain on drugs."

East Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp wants a similar, memorable media campaign
about underage drinking to lessen the illnesses, poor school performance
and even death from this illegal, unhealthy pastime.

The Chattanooga Republican and a California Democrat, Rep. Lucille
Roybal-Allard, have filed a bill to provide $1 million for a study by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the best approach for a
five-year campaign to reduce underage drinking. The funding level for that
remains to be determined.

Studies have shown that more than 2,000 youths aged 16 to 20 die each year
from car crashes where alcohol was a factor. The minimum legal drinking age
in every state is 21.

Twenty percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes, with ages of 15 to 20,
were found in testing to have alcohol in their system.

A survey of high school students showed 40 percent of 10th-graders and 51
percent of 12th-graders reported drinking alcohol within the past month.

Among Massachusetts youths who were sexually active, 44 percent said they
were more likely to have sexual intercourse if they had been drinking.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that alcohol is
the most used and abused drug among youth.

Yet the federal government is spending $1 billion on a campaign against
youths using other drugs like cocaine and marijuana.

Many of us remember films shown in junior and senior high school meant to
shock students into avoiding alcohol use. They showed bloody faces of dead
teens amid twisted wreckage in highway ditches. It was shocking to see, but
many students in my class believed that would never happen to them and went
on with their lives, which included alcohol use before or after school events.

So, any new national media campaign will try to help students think of ways
to avoid alcohol use.

Roybal-Allard, after talking to experts, came up with these examples.

When a youth is offered alcohol, she said, he or she could say: "No, I
don't want a beer. I have to stay in shape for my team." (What if they're
not on a team?) Or, "Nah, I'd rather have a soda." (What if only alcohol is
available?) Would these lines be effective? Would youths actually say this?
Perhaps focus groups with youths will determine that or find better responses.

Many parents who are pretty sure their kids are not using alcohol or
illegal drugs will say it is because of example and education at home, the
kids' choice of friends and because the youths have much structured time in
practicing and playing sports, practicing a musical instrument, using a
computer, reading, etc. Youths with too much unsupervised free time on
their hands can find many troubling pastimes, including drinking and smoking.

Roybal-Allard obtained data from other studies showing one-third of
fourth-graders saying they had been pressured in the past to drink alcohol.
Ten-year-olds? That's hard to believe but certainly not impossible in some
neighborhoods. The average age for trying alcohol the first time supposedly
is 11, surveys have shown.

Two-thirds of youths who start drinking by age 15 will end up trying
illegal drugs, she said. Federal alcohol abuse experts say drinking often
does lead to using marijuana or cocaine but that alcohol abuse by itself is
a major problem that must get more attention.
The message that experts want to get to youths is that alcohol abuse is not
cool but dangerous and illegal. How best to get out that message will take
more thought and planning.