Letter to Colleagues in the U.S. Congress - STOP Act
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard circulated two bipartisan letters to her fellow Members of Congress this month, urging them to support her measure called the "STOP Act" to curb underage drinking.
September 22, 2005
Alcoholism Begins in Youth: Please Co-Sponsor the STOP Underage Drinking Act (H.R. 864)
Dear Colleague:
We urge you to join us as a co-sponsor of the "Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act" (H.R. 864).
Preventing and reducing underage drinking is crucial to curbing future rates of alcoholism and decreasing its devastating toll for individuals, families and society. Far more young people use alcohol than smoke or use other drugs. And the age at which kids start experimenting with alcohol is younger than ever. By the time they reach the eighth grade, nearly half of all adolescents have had a least one drink, and over 20 percent report having been "drunk." The consequences are costly in both human and economic terms:
* Individuals who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some time in their lives compared with those who have their first drink at age 21 or older.
* Studies show that new cases of alcoholism peak sharply at age 18.
* In 2002, 1.5 million youth ages 12-17 met diagnostic criteria for admission to alcohol treatment programs.
* The vast majority (88 percent) of people in addiction treatment programs first got drunk before the age of 21.
The adolescent and teen years represent a critical window of opportunity for understanding, preventing and treating alcoholism. The bi-partisan, bi-cameral STOP Act represents a long-overdue first step towards a national strategy to combat underage drinking, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003. The bill would:
* Establish a coordinated leadership role for the federal government to combat underage drinking via an interagency coordinating committee, and create an annual report card to better monitor progress on key underage drinking indicators;
* Authorize a national, adult-oriented media campaign to prevent underage drinking;
* Make funds available to communities to combat youth alcohol use;
* Fund additional research on underage drinking.
To join our 49 co-sponsors or for more information on the bill, please contact Don DeArmon in Rep. Roybal-Allard's office (225-1766) or Courtney Schlieter in Rep. Frank Wolf's office (225-5136).
FRANK WOLF
Member of Congress
LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD
Member of Congress
TOM OSBORNE
Member of Congress
ROSA DeLAURO
Member of Congress
ZACH WAMP
Member of Congress
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September 27, 2005
Failing Our Children
7,000 Kids under 16 Take First Drink of Alcohol Each Day
Co-Sponsor the STOP Underage Drinking Act (H.R. 864)
Dear Colleague:
We are failing to make the progress we should in preventing our children from drinking alcohol until they are 21 or older. In 2004, 10.8 million underage youth reported drinking in the previous month, and those numbers are essentially unchanged from 2002 and 2003. The 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) that was released this month also included this troubling data: nearly 7.4 million of those 10.8 million underage drinkers reported "binging," that is drinking five or more drinks at the same time or within a couple of hours.
What do our kids do when they drink alcohol? They:
* Drive or ride with someone else who has been drinking: 10 percent of 16-to 17-year-olds report drinking and driving in past year.
* Engage in risky sexual behavior: Teenage girls who binge drink are 63 percent more likely to become teen mothers.
* Get in fights: 28 percent of 12- to 17-year-old current drinkers have been in a serious fight at school or work in the past year.
* Die: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 4,500 underage youth die each year from excessive drinking.
Moreover, in 2004, 87 percent of the 4.4 million persons who used alcohol for the first time in the previous 12 months were under the age of 21, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the agency that conducts the NSDUH. That's a significant increase over 2003 and 2002, when the comparable numbers were 4.1 million and 3.9 million, respectively.
Why are we failing our children? We know what to do. At the request of Congress, the National Academy of Science (NAS) reviewed the latest research on underage drinking and gave us a blueprint for national action in September 2003: Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility.
Using the evidence-based NAS recommendations, we have introduced the bipartisan, bicameral "Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act" (H.R. 864/S. 408). The STOP Act calls for common-sense action:
* Coordinating federal leadership and action among agencies.
* Educating parents and other adults of their responsibilities.
* Giving colleges, universities and local communities the resources they need.
* Supporting critical research.
We appreciate the competing needs we all face today and the tough choices we must make. But the $19 million investment called for by the STOP Act is a cost-effective strategy to reduce the $53 billion toll on our nation each year from the suffering and death caused by underage drinking. To join our 49 co-sponsors or for more information on the bill, please contact Don DeArmon in Rep. Roybal-Allard's office (225-1766) or Courtney Schlieter in Rep. Frank Wolf's office (225-5136).
FRANK WOLF
Member of Congress
LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD
Member of Congress
TOM OSBORNE
Member of Congress
ROSA DeLAURO
Member of Congress
ZACH WAMP
Member of Congress
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ca34_roybal-allard/pr050922.html