Sides Disagree on 21-only's Health Effects

Press-Citizen

 

University of Iowa student and 21-only opponent Matt Pfaltzgraf admits that binge drinking is a problem in Iowa City.

However, Pfaltzgraf said he thinks supporters of the 21-only ordinance are missing the mark in their belief that kicking underage patrons out of bars will prevent them from binge drinking.

"The whole notion that the first time students have a drink (is) at night when they go to a bar is just insane," Pfaltzgraf said. "What students do is pregame. They preload. They're binge drinking before they even leave their house."

The most dangerous drinking in town doesn't occur in downtown bars, but at house parties, fraternity and sorority houses and tailgates outside of University of Iowa football games, Pfaltzgraf said.

He cites reported incidents to back up his belief, as well. In November, Drake University student Nathan Erickson reportedly ingested a large amount of Everclear as part of a fraternity hazing. His blood-alcohol content at the hospital registered nearly .50, or more than six times the legal limit to operate a vehicle, .08. He was 19 at the time and made a full recovery.

In September 1995, UI student Matthew Garofalo passed out drunk at a fraternity house and was found dead 12 hours later after his lungs filled with his own vomit.

"You have the largest research institution in the state of Iowa and they cannot provide any data these (underage) students are binge drinking downtown, that that's where they're getting their alcohol," Pfaltzgraf said.

Nonetheless, supporters of the 21-only ordinance insist that keeping underage students out of the bars will make it more difficult for them to get booze, which, in turn, will lower their opportunities to engage in risky behavior.

Rick Dobyns, a clinical professor of family medicine at UI and 21 Makes Sense member, said the 21-only ordinance is good public health practice.

"It just makes it harder (to obtain alcohol)," Dobyns said of the ordinance. "Of course, will they go elsewhere to drink? Sure. It just makes it harder."

Dobyns said many people, even those who are 19 or 20, could drink and not have any problems. However, there are no tests to see who will succumb to alcohol-related issues, such as alcoholism, and who won't.

"We apply a rule to everybody to help a few," Dobyns said.

A former Johnson County paramedic sees it differently.

Ryan From, who worked with the Johnson County Ambulance Service for eight years, said the downtown bars are getting a bad rap for behavior that is taking place outside of the pedestrian mall.

"Most intoxicated patients came from unsupervised house parties, apartments and unlicensed venues -- hands down," From said.

"The thing is, a lot of times at house parties, people are afraid to call. That's when people get hurt and people die. It's in the bars' best interest to have that person leave or leave with medical attention."
 

Health concerns

Regardless of where they are finding it, experts agree dangerous drinking is especially detrimental for young imbibers, especially those younger than 25.

"Their brain is still developing," said Stephanie Beecher, a health educator for UI Student Health Service. "In this critical time of development, the brain is still maturing, still developing judgment skills."

Alcohol abuse for underage drinkers can have both short- and long-term effects, Beecher said. In the short term, alcohol abuse can lead to making poor or risky choices, as indicated by a rise in acts of violence and sexually transmitted infections, Beecher said. As for long-term effects, people can develop alcoholism and other health problems.

Although his office won't advocate one way or another on the 21-only ordinance, Johnson County Public Health Director Doug Beardsley said a law preventing underage patrons from entering bars is sound public policy and will go a long way to address alcohol addiction treatment and public perception of what is acceptable behavior.

Good policy or not, however, Beardsley said the ordinance won't do much on its own and must be part of a greater effort.

"I don't have the expectation this is the be all, end all, but it's an essential part," Beardsley said, noting the importance of offering alcohol-free alternatives. "Without changing the policy of allowing underage persons into drinking establishments, none of those (alternatives) are going to go very far."

New Zealand Acts to Limit Alcohol Access

BBC News

New Zealand's government has proposed several changes to alcohol laws in a bid to curb youth drinking.

Only those over 20 - up from 18 - will be allowed to buy alcohol from shops.

The sale of pre-mixed drinks with more than 5% alcoholic content will be banned, as will be other products deemed geared to the youth market.

Justice Minister Simon Power said New Zealand had to tackle serious alcohol-related issues; critics say the measures are half-hearted.

Mr Power said that alcohol was estimated to contribute to 1,000 deaths a year in New Zealand and was implicated in 30% of all offences recorded by police.

"What the government has heard from the New Zealand public is that the pendulum has swung too far towards relaxation of alcohol laws," he said.

"But there is a balance to be struck between not unfairly affecting responsible drinkers and dealing with the considerable harm alcohol causes."

But the government package has been attacked as half-hearted by some observers, who said more dramatic action was needed to shock participants in the so-called drinking culture into change.

The director of Christchurch's National Addiction Centre, Professor Doug Sellman, said the government was wrong to see alcohol abuse as essentially a youth problem.

Research found that 92% of New Zealand's heavy drinkers were 20 years and over, and 70% were 25 and over, Alcohol Action NZ said.

The government had avoided the big policy decisions, such as increasing prices and restricting advertising, and ended up with a package that was "like treating cancer with a couple of aspirin", Prof Sellman said.

Members of parliament will vote on the proposals according to individual conscience, not party lines, so the reforms' passage is not guaranteed.

Exposure to Drinking in Film, Television Linked to Early Drinking by Children

The Vancouver Sun

Children who watch R-rated movies are more likely to start drinking early on, results of a new study suggest.

 

 

The study, from Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, surveyed nearly 3,600 middle school-aged children. The researchers found that of children whose parents never allowed them to watch R-rated movies, only three per cent had started drinking when questioned a couple of years after the initial survey. For children whose parents "sometimes" let them see R-rated films, 19 per cent had started drinking. For children who were allowed to watch R-rated films "all the time," 25 per cent had started drinking.

The study's findings, to be published in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, stress the need for parents to monitor their child's media exposure, said James Sargent, principal investigator of the study and professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School.

Sargent said there are two effects of watching R-rated movies that leads to children drinking alcohol earlier in life.

"Part of it is monkey see, monkey do," he said. "Kids see actors smoking and drinking on screen and think, 'Oh, I'd like to do that.'"

At the same time, risky behaviours portrayed in R-rated movies, such as crime, violence and sexuality, tend to "go together," he said.

Once kids start one risky behaviour, such as smoking or sex, they're likely to start another, drinking for example, Sargent explained.

This can be damaging to their health, as early-onset alcohol use is associated with alcoholism later on in life, Sargent said.

Middle-school aged children are also likely to binge drink in high school, leading to such problems as "school failure, trouble with the law, and drinking and driving," he explained.

Keeping in mind that some parents who restrict access to R-rated movies could simply be more careful and more likely to ensure kids don't have access to alcohol in the home, the researchers also asked the children questions to gauge their parents' parenting style. However, even with these factors considered, exposure to R-rated movies was still linked to the likelihood of early-onset alcohol use.

Most worrying, Sargent said, some "authoritative parents still let their kids watch anything."

Monitoring a child's media consumption is as important in parenting as "paying attention to what your kids eat and making sure they do their homework," he said.

While the message to parents in the past was "don't let your kids watch too much TV, the big message (in this study) is that you can also influence your child's behaviour by controlling content," said Sargent.

For Canadian parents, Sargent recommends they take movie ratings "very seriously and literally."

"If a movie is rated for adults, kids have no business watching them," he said.

Sargent pointed out that many PG-13 movies and TV shows also portray drinking and other adult situations. Therefore, he urged parents to not only restrict their kids from seeing R-rated films, but also to limit time spent watching television overall.

The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends parents limit children's daily TV watching to one or two hours a day.

Massachusettes Adults Say 'No' to Buying Alcohol for Youth

Boston Globe

 

A series of shoulder tap surveys conducted in Somerville yielded encouraging results about the adult community's willingness to buy alcohol for minors. Of the 56 individuals surveyed, only one person agreed to purchase alcohol for a minor, the city announced on Monday.

The surveys were conducted at random by members of Somerville Positive Forces 100 and Teens Against Drug and Alcohol Abuse, subgroups of Somerville Cares About Prevention. Youth volunteers worked with the Somerville Police Department and local liquor retailers on the campain, which is run annually as part of a citywide effort to raise awareness of the minimum drinking age and encourage alcohol rehab in Massachusettes.

"If we want to reduce underage drinking, one thing we need to do is reduce youth access to alcohol," said SPF youth leader Anthony Soto, 17. "Shoulder taps engage youth in addressing this problem, and we really enjoy getting out there to talk to adults in our community."

In addition to shoulder taps, youth volunteers conduct annual sticker  campaigns and compliance checks at local businesses licensed to sell alcohol. This year's round of compliance checks began in March and will be completed in July.

Although this year's shoulder tap surveys were positive, youth volunteers had some ideas for improving the program in the future. Youth leader Deepika Bhargo suggested asking participants if they were familiar with the repercussions of providing alcoholic beverages to minors. Currently, adults can face arrest, six months to a year in prison, and up to $2,000 in fines, she said.

"I think this will provide insight on how much adults in Somerville already know about the underage drinking laws," she said.