Alcohol News: August 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
New collection of research on alcohol marketing and youth
The Journal of Public Health Policy, August 26, 2005
A collection of research articles and commentaries released online today concludes that alcohol marketing is a critical aspect of youth drinking problems across the globe. The collection, co-edited by researchers from Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) and Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), appears in the Journal of Public Health Policy. At the same time that the evidence linking advertising exposure and youth drinking behavior has grown stronger, three years of CAMY reports have made clear that young people in the United States are exposed to more than their fair share of ads promoting alcohol. Full text-access to the collection is available free for the next six months on the Web.
See articles and commentaries
Lift the curtain on alcohol ads
Talk Back! to Big Alcohol
Five years later: Phi Delta Theta's alcohol-free housing policy nets better grades, lower insurance costs, and more members
Yahoo News, August 22, 2005
Phi Delta Theta's move to alcohol- free housing in 2000 has been a positive move for the Fraternity, according to a white paper published by Edward G. Whipple, Ph.D., vice president for student affairs at Bowling Green State University. Whipple's research shows removing alcohol from the chapter facilities has: helped Phi Delta Theta to focus on its founding principles of friendship, sound learning, and rectitude, improved the organization's overall academic performance and helped fight the alcohol-dominated culture prevalent on campus.
See full text of article
Preventing alcohol problems on college campuses
Editorial: Kiddie booze? Tax alcopops as hard liquor
Sacramento Bee, CA August 27, 2005
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck ... then tax it like a duck. Breweries since the 1990s have profited from a gray area between beer and hard liquor in alcohol laws, producing beverages known as "alcopops." These mixed drinks are strong, sweet-tasting and appeal to young people. They are known by brand names such as Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver, Jack Daniel's Original Hard Cola, Skye Blue, Mike's Hard Lemonade. Brewers have a stake in the question of beer vs. hard liquor. California taxes beer at 20 cents a gallon, distilled spirits at $3.30 a gallon.
See full text of article
More on alcopops
Order Now! Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems:
A Roadmap for Environmental Prevention
New drivers license to help deter underage drinking
The Empire Journal, NY, August 26, 2005
A new driver’s license designed to help prevent fraud and license tampering by incorporating a series of new security enhancements that make the documents virtually impossible to tamper with or duplicate has been unveiled. The most prominent new feature of the license is the use of an "optical variable device" (OVD) imbedded within the laminate to prevent forgery.
See full text of article
More on underage drinking issues
Wal-Mart's liquor sales just a fifth of the target
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, August 24, 2005
Two years ago, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. held a series of meetings with the world's top liquor makers at its alcohol-free headquarters in the middle of a dry county. The subject, say several people who were there: What did Wal-Mart need to do to sell more vodka, whiskey and rum? The results of those meetings are now starting to hit store shelves. In a move partially meant to spur flagging growth at stores open more than a year, Wal-Mart is pushing into hard liquor, one of the rare product categories where the world's largest retailer is very small.
See full text of article
Environmental prevention works! Organize your community
AMA poll results on youth access
How bingeing became the new college sport
Time Magazine, August 21, 2005
In the coming weeks, millions of students will begin their fall semester of college, with all the attendant rituals of campus life: freshman orientation, registering for classes, rushing by fraternities and sororities and, in a more recent nocturnal college tradition, "pregaming" in their rooms. Pregaming is probably unfamiliar to people who went to college before the 1990s. But it is now a common practice among 18-, 19- and 20-year-old students who cannot legally buy or consume alcohol. It usually involves sitting in a dorm room or an off-campus apartment and drinking as much hard liquor as possible before heading out for the evening's parties.
See full text of the article
What parents need to know about "party schools"
Binge-drinking and alcohol poisoning
Concerned colleges try to stanch flow of cheap beer
USA Today, August 22, 2005
Several universities regularly listed among the nation's top "party schools" are joining city officials and bar owners to try to curb the supply of the biggest contributor to binge drinking on and off campus: abundant, cheap beer. The University of Florida is working with Gainesville bar owners, beer distributors and City Hall to discourage drink-till-you-drop specials and to start police "party patrols" to clamp down on rowdy keggers and kids violating the national legal drinking age of 21.
See full text of article
Preventing alcohol problems on college campuses
Teen drinking could reflect parents' habits
Palo Alto Weekly, CA, August 17, 2005
When it comes to curbing underage drinking, parenting expert Joe Connolly says adults need to stop blaming teenagers and start looking at their own drinking habits. Although innocent enough, he said, that glass of wine at dinner or those two beers Friday night could be sending a mixed message about alcohol and its role in everyday life. With recent alcohol-related tragedies grabbing headlines, Connolly wants parents to stop taking teen drinking lightly and start getting stern, even if that means modifying their own drinking habits - a fact some local parents found difficult to stomach at a recent workshop.
See full text of article
What Marin teens say...
Socializing without alcohol
ABL launches integrated responsibility initiatives
PR Newswire Food, August 22, 2005
The American Beverage Licensees (ABL) announced today the introduction of its Integrated Responsibility Initiatives (IRI) program in a move that demonstrates the continuing efforts of "America's Beer, Wine and Spirits Retailers" to legally and responsibly sell and serve beverage alcohol. ABL will address the societal problems of alcohol abuse by incorporating the four pillars of the IRI program into ABL's support of responsible beverage alcohol retailing. Those four pillars include Community, Third-Party, Education, and Legislative partnerships that will serve to focus the efforts.
See full text of article
Get involved! Talk Back!
130 colleges, universities, and greek organizations mandate online alcohol prevention
Business Wire, CA, August 15, 2005
This fall, more than 150,000 college students will complete an online alcohol prevention program in an effort by campus and Greek organization administrators to ensure that students have the skills they need to make safe and healthy decisions about alcohol. According to a March 2005 report from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), the problem of college drinking exceeds previous estimates. The report cites more than 1700 alcohol-related deaths and 2.8 million cases of driving under the influence in 2001. Previous estimates also suggest 500,000 injuries, 70,000 sexual assaults, and 159,000 first-year student dropouts due to alcohol and other drugs every year.
See full text of article
Take action
Order Now! Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems:
A Roadmap for Environmental Prevention
N.H. town is drinking in peace: Public use of alcohol
legalized in Madison
Boston Globe, MA, August 15, 2005
Recent alcohol-related legislation in New Hampshire suggests that Madison is bucking the trend even in the Granite State. Two years ago, the state made it a misdemeanor to knowingly host a party with alcohol for minors; previously, lawmakers made it a felony to manufacture fake identification cards.
''By far, most places are strengthening and enforcing policy instead of weakening it," said Amon Rappaport, a spokesman for The Marin Institute, a nonprofit alcohol watchdog group in California.
Because individual decisions reflect community norms, he said, Madison's new rule is problematic for parents. ''You can tell kids not to drink and drive, but if it's OK to drink in the park, that sends a different message," he said.
See full text of the article
More on Land Use / Zoning Authority
Order Now! Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems
A Roadmap for Environmental Prevention
Keep alcohol out of our state parks
Huntington Herald Dispatch, WV, August 12, 2005
The West Virginia Department of Natural Resources is thinking about revising its prohibition on alcoholic beverages at some state parks. The proposal would give one-time use permits to groups who would be gathered in certain confined areas such as picnic shelters.
When the DNR asked for public comment, the response was overwhelmingly
negative. Is that surprising?
It’s one thing for a person in an RV to drink a beer in private. Likewise, few people would complain if a person camping in a tent enjoyed the evening with a beer or two. It’s the possibility of groups consuming large quantities of alcohol that causes problems.
See full text of article
What Really Works to Prevent Alcohol Problems?
Identifying the problem drinker at an early age
Alcoholics get help too late, often only after decades of abuse, experts say
Newsday.com, August 16, 2005
While alcoholic treatment centers generally meet and treat their patients in middle-age, scientists are revamping their research strategy to take into account that such drinking problems are already 20 years old by the time they show up at the clinics.
"We've been spending all our time on people who have been ill for decades," said Dr. Mark L. Willenbring, director of the division of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "We need to shift our focus to understand what's going on and prevent heavy drinking in adolescence."
A new trend in research is focusing on younger drinkers and figuring out ways to help prevent later addiction.
See full text of article
Our Solution: Environmental Prevention
Learn How to Take Environmental Prevention Forward
Study Finds Possible Link Between Alcohol, Cancer
NewsNet5.com, OH, August 12, 2005
Researchers believe they have uncovered a series of chemical reactions from drinking alcohol that could lead to cancer.
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Thursday they have developed a new chemical analysis method to investigate the potential link.
The researchers cited previous studies that found a relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and an increased risk of some cancers.
See full text of article
More on Breast Cancer and Alcohol
Health Care Costs of Alcohol
College students to take alcohol awareness course
San Jose Mercury News, CA, August 9, 2005
Freshman starting at the University of California, Berkeley this fall will have a new course to master - alcohol awareness. The university began the mandatory online course as part of a campus-wide effort to curb alcohol consumption after several high-profile incidents last spring highlighted problem drinking among students, UC Berkeley spokeswoman Marie Felde said Monday.
See full text of article (Free Subscription Required)
More on Campus Drinking
AMA teen drinking polls show need for community-based response; watchdog offers solutions to community alcohol problems
Marin Institute, CA, August 8, 2005
The Marin Institute, an alcohol industry and policy watchdog, is calling for a nationwide, community-based response to our country's underage drinking epidemic in light of two polls released today by the American Medical Association. By revealing "... how underage youth obtain alcohol, as well as how easily and often," the AMA's findings highlight the need for parents, physicians, policy makers and businesses to help create community conditions that prevent youth access to alcohol.
See full text of the article
Environmental Prevention at Home
Holding Adults Responsible for Teen Parties
Underage girls get more alcohol than boys do, AMA survey finds
Bloomberg News, August 8, 2005
Half of U.S. teenage girls have obtained alcoholic drinks ``one way or another,'' compared with 45 percent of their boy counterparts, according to an online survey released today by the American Medical Association.
See full text of article
Physiological Effects of Alcohol on Teenagers
Data shows drug prevention messages work
Coalitions Online, VA, August 4, 2005
New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that youth who reported seeing or hearing media messages on preventing drug use are significantly less likely to report substance use. While 10.3 percent of youths who reported seeing or hearing media prevention messages in the past year reported binge alcohol use in the past month, 12.5 percent of youth who were not exposed to media prevention messages engaged in binge drinking.
See full text of article
More on Prevention
Keep Big Alcohol in Check
Alcohol-related deaths on highways fall
Newsday.com, WA, August 2, 2005
Traffic deaths declined and fewer people were killed in alcohol-related crashes on U.S. highways for a second straight year, the government said Monday. Some 42,636 people died on the nation's highways in 2004, a reduction of 248 -- or 0.6 percent -- from the previous year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
See full text of article
More on Effective Alcohol Policies
Bud defends 'Crashers' product placement
Hollywood Reporter, CA, August 1, 2005
The Marin Institute, a prominent alcohol industry watchdog group in Northern California, has accused Budweiser of targeting underage drinkers through its tie-in with New Line Cinema's "Wedding Crashers," alleging that the movie's stars -- Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson -- and raunchy themes appeal to adolescent boys.
See the full text of the article
More on alcohol and product placements
New Futures mobilizes response to teen drinking controversy
Marin Institute, August 1, 2005
Following a teen drinking party hosted by parents in New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Herald published an editorial suggesting that the minimum legal drinking age be lowered. New Futures, a non-profit alcohol advocacy organization, responded quickly by expressing concerns in a meeting with the executive editor of the Herald and by mobilizing local area partners representing community members, youth organizations, and coalitions to write letters to the editor in response. New Future's president John Bunker's letter responding to the editorial stated that: “Enforcing legislation that holds adults responsible for supplying alcohol to minors and keeps the drinking age 21 are effective approaches to reduce underage drinking problems.”
Read John Bunker’s letter
The editorial that started it all
Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems
Tie-ins often sobering for liquor firms
Hollywood Reporter, CA, August 1, 2005
For Budweiser, it looked like a match made in heaven. So America's top-selling beer tied the knot with "Wedding Crashers," paying a product placement fee to be featured in the New Line Cinema comedy and ... Allied Domecq said that after it refused to grant permission to Miramax to feature Stoli vodka in "Bad Santa" because of the depiction of alcohol abuse by Billy Bob Thornton's character, the filmmakers displayed a bottle without the Stoli trademark that still had the same ...
See full text of article
Keep Big Alcohol in check
Talk Back!
Brewer recasts ad after boater dies
The Oregonian, OR, July 28, 2005
The maker of Bud Light beer said Tuesday that it plans to replace all billboards featuring a water scooter rider with one that promotes responsible drinking while boating after concerns from a Portland nonprofit and a deadly weekend accident on the Columbia River.
See full text of article
More headlines on Anheuser-Busch
The costs of mixing alcohol and sports
Report shows NCAA should ban beer ads
UWire, July 30, 2005
A report released Wednesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest calls for a ban on beer advertising during National Collegiate Athletic Association televised sports broadcasts. The report, "How the NCAA Recruits Kids for the Beer Market," argues that by trying to attract young consumers to its brand, the NCAA exposes young people to alcohol advertisers.
See full text of article
The truth about Big Alcohol and sports
Liquor ads invite teens to the party
Forbes.com, July 26, 2005
Rockin' parties, sexy people, getting the guy or girl, being popular -- these are themes teenagers say they take away from alcohol advertisements, according to a recent survey that found evidence that liquor ads are targeting young people. Of the nearly 500 Maine teens surveyed, two-thirds of the 13- to 18-year-olds agreed that the alcohol industry is trying to appeal to underage youth through its advertising, according to a report by the survey's sponsor, the Maine Youth Empowerment and Policy group.
See full text of article
How ads really affect teens
Talk Back!
|
