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Jan. 24, 2003 Contact: Jim Sellers (503) 945-5738 Runs noon 1-24-2003 to 10 a.m. 1-28-2003 State panel recommends ways to curb under-age drinking (Story time 1:37) Lead-in: Oregonians cannot drink legally until age 21, but many use and abuse alcohol long before that. A new report examines what to do. Patricia Feeny reports. The numbers are startling: Alcohol kills six times more teens than all illegal substances combined. Alcohol is implicated in half of teen traffic fatalities. And more than three in 10 college students would be medically diagnosed as alcohol abusers. Barbara Cimaglio of the Oregon Department of Human Services says use of other drugs fluctuates. Barbara Cimaglio: But when it comes to alcohol, under-age drinking particularly among high schoolers is a pretty consistent problem. We see about half of the 11th-graders using alcohol on a regular basis, and that is just far too many. :21 In response, an Underage Drinking Task Group is recommending ways to cut use by kids, such as: Requiring locked displays of alcohol in stores. Requiring alcohol labeling that identifies age requirements and penalties. Stricter enforcement of under-age drinking laws. More health education in schools. Barbara Cimaglio: A major one is the involvement of community leaders, in fact setting policies and enforcing those policies in their own neighborhoods and cities. :13 The task group was made up of members of the Governor's Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the Oregon departments of Transportation and Human Services, and the Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. In Salem, I'm Patricia Feeny. |
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