21 Reasons: Now on your radio…

Portland Coalition Coordinator Jo Morrissey got to visit the Coast 93.1 morning show with hosts Tim and Eva! She had a great segment last Wednesday, September 23.

While we’d love it if we could represent 21 Reasons on every morning show, Jo’s guest appearance on Coast 93.1 was triggered by a specific segment done on the morning of September 2nd:

Morning show host Eva wanted to have a listener discussion about a situation that happened with one of her friends. Eva’s friend hosted an underage drinking party for her son and eleven of her son’s friends. The mom contacted the guests’ parents beforehand, to let them know the teens would be drinking at the party--and only one set of parents said no! The party was described by the mom as “no drama”. The mother (Eva’s friend) bought a set amount of beer and took all the car keys; the teens played beer pong and there was “only one puker.”

Eva and Tim asked listeners what they thought about the situation – did the mother do the right thing? What do other parents think about hosting parties like this? While we didn’t get to hear all of the callers, “Officer Mike” and several others had great comments about legal issues, the drinking age, and how adults model drinking behaviors.

Obviously, when we heard about this, we needed to respond. Much of our work is done with parents, to let them know that underage drinking is NOT inevitable, and we want to provide support for parents who may find themselves in a situation like this one.

Jo answered some tough questions about the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) and community norms about alcohol. She was also able to debunk some common myths about underage drinking – for instance, most teens actually DON’T drink.

A huge thanks to Tim, Eva, and Coast 93.1 for having Jo on the show and letting us share with their listeners!

Bad MADD Makes Us Sad

In a press release on September 19^th, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) introduced a bizarre new product line – non-alcoholic wines, frozen drinks, and beers.

According to the press release, the US products are going to be based on similar beverages being developed by MADD Canada. Here’s what MADD’s CEO, Chuck Hurley, had to say: "What's important to us is that a designated driver should be sober — not just the least drunk… So a virgin cocktail perhaps would be a little more festive than just a club soda and lime and allow the person to participate in the festivities but be the sober driver to get people home."

Wait, what? It almost sounds like MADD is saying that to be included in the party, you have to at least look like you’re drinking alcohol. Since in Maine, only those over 21 can buy imitation liquor, one could reasonably assume that MADD’s “mocktails” are intended for adults. But what’s wrong with a soda, punch, or a smoothie? Apparently they’re not “festive” enough.

Are you confused yet? We are. Aren’t we trying to instill youth with the self confidence and social skills they need not to make destructive decisions, like MADD’s junior partner Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)? If we expect this from a 16 year old, shouldn’t this be the norm for a 30 year old? So then why promote a product that suggests that pretending to drink “allows a person to participate in the festivities.”

MADD doesn’t offer much clarity. Here’s one of their official positions entitled No Mixed Messages: “MADD advocates elimination of any statements, slogans and other educational messages which target youth in such a way that ‘mixed messages’ about alcohol use are conveyed. Because of the '21' legal drinking age laws nationwide, messages which simply urge these youth not to drink and drive are inappropriate. Instead, messages to underage youth should convey clear ‘no use’ messages.”

In this statement, MADD advocates “clear ‘no use’ messages” for kids—and they use the same language on their "Why 21" site to talk to parents about sending mixed messages. But, with this product, MADD is still promoting the idea that adults who choose not to drink should look like they are drinking—and that festivities require at least the appearance of alcohol. How’s that for modeling responsible behavior?

Media news: YouTube!

We're going multimedia! Now you can log on to the web and check us out on YouTube! Our channel is called "21reasonsmaine" and you can watch 21 Reasons PSA's and a video from the Casco Bay Coalition. It will be even easier to find us once we launch our updated website in October - we'll have a quick link to the YouTube channel right from our home page.

Webinar for Parents

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is offering a free webinar for parents to help protect their kids from substance and alcohol use. Information is below.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America invites you to a free Webinar and presents:

Parents: You Matter, a community presentation program that provides parents and caring adults with tools and information about why kids use drugs and alcohol, and how parents can protect their children. All resources will be made available to webinar attendees, including the presentation, an annotated script and additional materials about the program. Who: Tom Hedrick, Founding Member and Senior Communications Officer, Partnership for a Drug-Free America Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT Space is limited. The deadline is August 21. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/755864587 After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the free Webinar.

C.O.P.S. Training

Here at 21 Reasons we work pretty closely with the police department to make sure that liquor laws are being enforced and to support healthy relationships between law enforcement, communities, and businesses.

But for many people the functions of the police department are shrouded in mystery and rumor. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about how the Portland Police Department works, check out this free, 10-week class being offered by the PD starting in September.

According to a press release issued by the department, “the C.O.P.S. program is intended to be an overview of the functions and operations of law enforcement personnel. Participants will not be trained as police officers.”

The topics covered will include:

The Role of the Police Officer

The Hiring Process

Laws – Maine Criminal and Civil, Federal

Police Ethics

Juvenile Justice

Dealing with the Mentally Ill

Domestic Violence and Diverse Ethnic Groups

Patrol Procedures

Use of Force

The FATS Machine – shoot/don’t shoot scenarios.

Online application available here. And tell ‘em 21 Reasons sent you.

July Underage Drinking Prevention Tip of the Month

The New York Times published the following editorial on June 30, taking a closer look at the Amethyst Initiative and the legal drinking age.

This piece makes the important point that binge drinking has risen among college-attending young adults, while it has fallen among their non-college-attending peers. Perhaps the drinking age is not the problem.

Editorial

Binge Drinking on Campus

Published: June 30, 2009

College presidents who have been blaming drinking-age laws for drunkenness at their schools had better look at their own policies. While the amount of binge drinking — downing five or more drinks in a row — remains high at colleges, it has dropped sharply among people of the same age who do not attend college.

Last year, more than 100 college presidents and chancellors called for reconsidering the legal drinking age, which was raised to 21 by all states during the 1980s.

Their reasoning seemed to be that by making it illegal for most college-age students to drink, the laws had inadvertently made it more likely that students would engage in clandestine — and difficult to supervise — binge drinking. There was some talk that the minimum age for drinking should be reduced back to 18.

Now comes new evidence that the age-21 requirement has been generally effective in reducing binge drinking — except among college students. That was the conclusion of a study by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published in The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The study, based on information collected over a 27-year period by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, found that binge drinking by men between 18 and 20 years old who did not attend college dropped by more than 30 percent over that period but remained statistically unchanged among similar-aged men on campus. There was no difference between college and noncollege women in the 18- to 20-year age group but a big upsurge in binge drinking by older college women.

Just why the college crowd continues to drink so heavily is not clear. Students are less likely to live with parents or spouses who can ride herd on their drinking. Most have older friends who can legally buy alcohol. Fraternities and sororities may also foster irresponsible drinking. Whatever the causes, the solutions almost certainly lie mostly within the colleges — perhaps with better counseling or stronger bans on under-age drinking — not by lowering the legal drinking age.