Underage Drinking: National Report Details Problems and Solutions

To increase awareness of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Institute of Medicine's report "Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility", FACE worked with the NAS to package the findings in a more engaging and visually appealing format. The cost is $1.00/copy plus postage and shipping. You can order the report online at www.faceproject.org (search under "New Products") or call 1-888-822-3223.

The alcohol industry found itself in the hot seat in September 2003 when the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Institute of Medicine released a landmark report to Congress examining the industry's marketing practices and the state of America's underage drinking problem.

The NAS report, "Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility", found that underage alcohol use costs the nation an estimated $53 billion annually, including $19 billion from traffic crashes and $29 billion from violent crime. The report calls for a comprehensive prevention strategy that requires a shared commitment from many institutions and individuals, including alcohol manufactures and retail businesses, the entertainment industry, and parents and other adults in local communities. To curb underage drinking the report recommends:

• Lawmakers increase excise taxes on alcohol - particularly beer, which studies show is young people's favorite alcoholic beverage;
  
• States strengthen their compliance check programs to make sure merchants observe laws;
  
• All sellers and servers of alcohol complete state-approved training as a condition of employment;
  
• The entertainment industry enhance efforts to prevent youth exposure to favorable depictions of alcohol use by strengthening ratings and reducing alcohol content in music, TV and movies;
  
• Research-based prevention programs on all college campuses;
  
• Congress fund the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor underage exposure to alcohol advertising on a continuing basis and report periodically to Congress and the public;
  
• The alcohol industry join with other private and public partners to establish and fund an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to reducing underage drinking;
  
• A federally funded, national media campaign aimed primarily at parents and other adults.

"The alcohol industry makes a lot of money from underage drinkers," said Mark Pertschuk, executive director of the Marin Institute. "If the industry is serious about reducing youth drinking then they'll follow the report's recommendations and return these profits to help solve the problem. It's very encouraging that the report endorses the types of policies and prevention strategies that we know have proven effective in reducing underage drinking."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also issued a report on alcohol marketing and advertising. The report disappointed public health advocates by concluding the alcohol industry is not targeting underage consumers with flavored malt beverages (FMBs), and giving the industry good marks for complying with the commission's prior recommendations - such as placing ads where 50 percent or more of the audience is over 21. The FTC found, however, that despite compliance with this standard, alcohol ads continue to "reach a substantial youth audience." The FTC recommended increasing the ad placement standard to 70 percent - still allowing the industry to place ads where 30 percent of the audience is underage. The Beer Institute and Distilled Spirits Council announced their intent to comply with the tougher standard.

For a summary of the NAS report "Reducing Underage Drinking"
For the full report visit www.nas.ed.
For the FTC report visit www.ftc.gov .