Our Stories: The Underage Drinking Problem in Lake Forest/Lake Bluff

Watch this clip from the powerful "Our Stories" video created for parents by the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition.

Want more information about underage drinking in our community? Need help getting the conversation going? Order the 17 minute DVD and parent handbook by clicking on this link!

 

Lowering the Legal Drinking Age: An Analysis of the Pros and Cons

Since the mid 1930’s, the legal drinking age in the United States has been set at 21.  But during the Vietnam War, in consideration of young people in military service, 29 states lowered the legal drinking age. As a result, there was no uniform drinking age, with some states choosing 18, 19, or 20, and some states also putting restrictions on types of beverages that could be purchased such as beer and wine, or limited the right to on-premise sales only, etc. 

As a result of these changes, there was a marked increase in car fatalities where young people and drinking was involved. This patchwork of laws also led to problems at state borders, creating significant risk for teens that would drive to an adjacent state to obtain or consume alcohol.  For instance, Wisconsin allowed liquor sales to 18 year olds, and Illinois did not, and it is not uncommon to hear local adults tell stories, some tragic, [more...]

College Presidents Talk About Lowering the Drinking Age

The Amethyst Initiative

Former Middlebury College president James McCardell is on a mission—to convince others that the solution to dangerous college drinking is lowering the drinking age.  After founding Choosing Responsibility, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching the issue, he initiated the Amethyst Initiative and asked college presidents around the country to join him.  The Initiative Statement calls for an unencumbered examination of the issue. Lake Forest College President Steve Schutt signed it, but told us that he hasn’t reached a conclusion yet, just agrees that the current system isn’t working and we need to talk about new options.

Did your or your child’s college president sign it?—check out the list!
http://www.amethystinitiative.org/signatories/

How does the LF/LB Coalition feel about the issue?  Read the draft of our position paper on the issue and email us with your comments at speakuplflb@gmail.com.  Recent parent survey among local folks indicated that while the majority of respondents do not feel that lowering the drinking age should be the solution, a surprising 46% think that it is due some consideration as the solution.  Nationally, 78% of Americans polled feel the drinking age should not be lowered.  Here are some quick reasons we are concerned about changing the law: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PollVault/story?id=941810

1. Traffic deaths steeply increased in the 1980’s when the drinking age was lowered in 29 states.  The change to 21 is considered one of the most effective highway safety measures ever instituted.  Can additional deaths ever be worth it?
2. The majority of our local youth would turn 18 while still in high school, posing significant risks for them and for the younger students in the school who would have greater access to alcohol.
3. Research has been definitive that alcohol is harmful to the developing brain, reducing cognitive abilities and increasing the chance of long term problems with alcohol when consumed at younger ages (prior to 21). 
4. College presidents have stated that they could provide support for students who have problems with alcohol or who binge while on campus if drinking were out in the open, but the majority of 18-20 year olds in America  (75%) do not live on a residential college campus. Should the law be changed for the minority?  The rest of the young adults live off campus, or work, and are driving regularly; they put themselves and others at risk when alcohol and driving are combined and little support is available.
5. Our understanding of youth today is that they drink not because it is forbidden but because they enjoy the effects of alcohol (lots of alcohol, drinking games, the fun of being drunk, high).  We have not seen any evidence that making alcohol use legal would change this, and it puts many more students at risk.
6. Some justify lowering the age because of young adults in the service. Lowering the drinking age for those who serve in the military (if they can go to war….) will aggravate an already big problem for young people in the service.  Military psychologists told us at the OJJDP Conference on Underage Drinking Prevention that alcohol problems among the younger military personnel are significant, and represent a major problem for our armed services. They feel there are better ways to reward our young people—with scholarships, jobs, homes, opportunities when they return—not a beer. Read the impassioned letter from this military expert.

What do other experts say?  Read the words of Health Columnist Jane Brody, of the New York Times.

Read the position paper for both sides of the argument! 

Take This Opportunity to Learn More! 

We encourage parents and teens to learn more about the risks of underage drinking. New scientific studies and even the US Surgeon General have concluded that the epidemic of teen drinking is damaging to many youth.

You can join the effort to change the culture in our community in several ways:

• Speak up within your family and among your friends about the issue of alcohol use by children!
• Join the coalition itself and work on the campaign to reduce underage drinking. Email us to join.
• Sign the SpeakUP! Petition, which indicates your support for the effort, your interest in speaking up about the problem, and your willingness to get an email newsletter with valuable information on the issue of youth and alcohol use. See our section "How to Get Involved" for more information.
  
• Host a coffee in your home, with your friends or neighbors, and have a Coalition facilitator lead a frank discussion about the challenges of raising kids today. Email us if you would be willing.
• Help support the effort to reduce alcohol consumption by youth by making a tax deductible donation to the coalition.

Bring A Group Together to Talk

Help start the conversation about underage drinking; hear the latest facts, talk about how to support one another, and learn new ways to protect our kids.  Think about hosting a casual coffee among your friends, at clubs you belong to, or as a meeting with organizations you are part of!  So far, several parents have done just this and report that the parents attending thought the conversation was very, very helpful in addressing the pressing problem of youth and alcohol use.  The coffees help strengthen parent networks, a great positive protective factor.

We can provide an easy guide (suggested evite, agenda, copy of the “Our Stories DVD), and a facilitator.  We can share how others have successfully convinced their friends to come.  Just contact the head of the parent coffees committee, Deborahanne Reimer at doylereimer@yahoo.com or the Coaliton email at speakuplflb@gmail.com.

Let the conversations begin!