John M. McCardell, Jr.
President of Choose Responsibility
President Emeritus of Middlebury
College
What is binge
drinking?
Binge Drinking
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56% increase in binge
drinking between 1993
and 2001 by 18-20 yearolds (1)
More than 90% of all
alcohol consumed by
underage drinkers is
consumed during binge
drinking (2)
35% of 18-20 year-olds
binge drink (3)
1 Naimi et al., 2003
2 Institutes of Medicine, 2003
3 NSDUH, 2007
Extreme Drinking
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College students experienced a
nearly 10% increase in the rate of
drinking to get drunk between
1993 and 2001, which
corresponded to an increase in
secondary consequences and
treatment for alcohol overdose (1)
In a study of college freshman, 20% of males frequently
drank more than 10 drinks in an evening (2)
At a major university, treatment for alcohol overdose
increased by 84% in three years, and the average BAC of
those admitted rose from .23% to .25% (3)
1 Wechsler, 2002
2 White, et. al, 2006
3 Mahon, 2009
Where does binge drinking take place?
“College officials have agreed with students
that the change in minimum age has not
stopped student drinking, only displaced it. ”
~ Ernie Boyer, The Undergraduate Experience in America
Deadly Consequences
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Over 1,000 lives of 18-24 year-olds are lost
annually to alcohol off the highways, a figure
that has been increasing since 1998 (1)
60 percent of the deaths related to underage
drinking occur off the highways (2)
Underage drinking annually contributes to
some 599,000 injuries, and 97,000 cases of
sexual assault among college students (3)
1 Hingson, 2005
2 NIAAA, 2006
3 Hingson, 2005
How did we end up with Legal Age 21?
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Growing concern over drunk driving in
early 1980s
MADD and other advocacy groups get
involved
Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving
1984-Passage of National Minimum
Drinking Age Act
Alcohol-Related Traffic Fatalities, by age group
(Hingson & Winter 2003)
It’s not 1984 anymore…
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In 1980, nearly 50% of all fatal crashes were
alcohol related. In 2007, that proportion had
fallen to 32% (1)
Many anti-drunk driving policies implemented
in last 25 years (.08 BAC limit, Administrative
License Revocation, Zero Tolerance, etc.)
Mandatory seatbelt and airbag laws
Designated drivers, massive public education
efforts
1 NHTSA, 2008
Positive Change: The Drunk Driving
Example
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“I think you’ll agree with me, if you look back,
that it’s no longer acceptable to drive drunk.
It’s socially reprehensible, in fact, to drive
drunk. I think everyone will agree with that.
It was ‘wink and nod’ 20 years ago. It’s not
that gray an area anymore.”
~Jeff Runge, Administrator, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, 2003
What 18-20 year-olds can do…
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Enlist or be drafted, risking their
lives for our nation
Marry, adopt children, and be
legal guardians
Open bank accounts, go into
debt, own property, sue or be
sued
Vote, and seek or hold public
office
Purchase firearms
Smoke, buy lottery tickets, and
gamble
Enter into legally binding
contracts
Finding a common sense solution
Our current
approach to
binge drinking is
as effective as a
parachute that
opens on the
second bounce
MADD CEO Chuck Hurley on 60
Minutes
Realistic ways to make a difference
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Mandatory alcohol education
Parental involvement
Exceptions to the 21 year-old drinking age for
supervised programs of education and provisional
licensing
Mandatory ignition interlocks for first time DUI
offenders of all ages
Maintenance of Zero Tolerance laws for all people
under age 21
Low alcohol content beer for 18-20 year-olds
But what about?
The effects of alcohol on adolescent brain
development
There are plenty of studies indicating that early,
unsupervised drinking can lead to trouble for teens—both
immediately and down the road. But this does not mean
that an 18 year-old who has a beer or two every couple of
weeks is doing irreparable damage to her brain. It is the
18 year-old who downs five or six drinks in a row on his
way to a dance that worries me.”
~ H. Scott Swartzwelder, Duke University
But what about?
Age of onset and risk of dependency
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Under
14
14
15
16
17
18
Data from Hingson, et al. (2006)
19
20
21 and
Older
But what about?
The International Context
Ratio of Intoxication Occasions to Drinking Occasions
Among 15-16 Year-Olds in 30 Countries
1
0.9
Iceland
Finland
0.8
Greenland
0.7
Ukraine
Norway Sweden
0.6
0.5
Denmark
0.4
Bulgaria
0.3
Estonia
Croatia
Czech Republic
France
Greece
0.1
USA
Slovenia
Latvia
Hungary
Portugal
0.2
United Kingdom
Ireland
Poland
Lithuania
Russia
Romania
Italy
Slovak Republic
Netherlands
Malta
Cyprus
0
(Data From Babor, et al. 2003)
“Canadian reductions in youth drinking and driving,
followed virtually the same pattern as in the United
States. But the Canadian reduction was not due to
laws directed at youth: the drinking age did not
change during this time, and zero tolerance laws
were implemented after the reduction had occurred.
This means that the changes must have resulted
from some combination of the difficult-to-assess
educational and motivational programs and from
other factors outside of traffic safety. This conclusion
suggests that a substantial portion of the reduction
in the United States also resulted from these same
causes.”
~Hedlund, Arnold, and Preusser (NHTSA), 2001,
“Determine Why There Are Fewer Young Alcohol
Impaired Drivers.”
Gordie Bailey, 18
"Gordie died alone in an empty room with
his friends surrounding him. And it's just
very preventable. Just inexcusable.”
~Leslie Lanahan, Gordie Bailey’s mother
CU Student Found Dead
Inside Frat House
“Bailey and the other pledges had begun the evening
Sept. 16 [2004] blindfolded and abandoned in the
woods near Gold Hill. Police said the pledges were told
to drink large amounts of Ten High whiskey and Carlo
Rossi wine…The next morning Bailey was found face
down on the floor, and could not be revived. His
blood-alcohol level was 0.328 percent, four times
the legal limit for driving in Colorado.”
~Channel 7 News, Denver, CO
Ali Marie Raddatz, 18
"My daughter was a bright, energetic, hard working lady.
From all outward appearances, you would have never thought
anything like this was going on.” ~Ali’s father, Paul Raddatz
UWM Freshman Found Dead of
Apparent Drug, Alcohol Overdose
“Raddatz, 18, was found at 11:07 a.m. Saturday,
unresponsive on a sleeper sofa at a friend’s
house…Friends told Milwaukee police Raddatz
had been drinking raspberry rum in her dorm
room before heading to the friend’s duplex. She
had also consumed OxyContin and Valium.”
~Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
References
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Alcohol Policy Information System. (2006). Underage Consumption of Alcohol.
http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?SEC={0D5C719E-FCE8-4E15-A3674145C655505F}&Type=BAS_APIS
Babor, T., Caetano, R., Casswell, S., Edwards, G., Giesbrecht, N., Graham, K., Grube, J., Gruenewald, P., Hill, L.,
Holder, H., Homel, R., Osterberg, E., Rehm, J., Room, R. & Rossow, I. (2003). Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boyer, E. (1987). The Undergraduate Experience in America. New York: Harper & Row.
Fell, J., Fisher, D., Voas, R., Blackman, K., and Tippetts, A.S. (in press). The relationship of underage drinking laws to
reductions in drinking drivers in fatal crashes in the United States. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2008.
Hedlund, J., Ulmer, R. and Preusser, D. (Sept. 2001). Determine why there are fewer young alcohol impaired drivers.
NHTSA Report DOT HS 809 348.
Hingson, R. & Winter, M. (2003). Epidemiology and Consequences of Drinking and Driving. Bethesda: National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institute of Health.
Hingson, R., Hereen, T., Winter, M., Weschler, H. (2005). Magnitude of alcohol related mortality and morbidity among
US college students ages 18-24: Changes from 1998 to 2001. Annual Review of Public Health, (26), 259-279.
Hingson, R., Hereen, T., and Winter, M., (2006). Age at drinking onset and alcohol dependence. Archives of
Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine, 160, 739-746.
Institutes of Medicine. (2003). Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington: National
Academies Press.
Mahon, B. (28 February 2009). Number of Penn State student visits to the ER reach new high. Gant Daily. Retrieved 1
March 2009 from http://www.gantdaily.com/news/43/ARTICLE/45004/2009-02-28.html.
Naimi, T.S., Brewer, R.D., Mokdad, A., Denny, C., Serdula, M., & Marks, J.S. (2003). Binge drinking among U.S.
Adults. Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(1), 70-75.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2005). Traffic safety facts: 2004 Data (DOT HS 809 905). Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 1, 2006, from: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd30/NCSA/TSF2004/809905.pdf
Runge, J.W. (2003, October 21). Impaired driving in the US: Progress and research needs. Washington DC: U.S.
Department of Transportation, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies (2008). Results from the 2007
National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (NSDUH Series H-34, DHHS Publication No. SMA 084343). Rockville, MD.
Swartzwelder, H.S. Personal communication, 26 June 2007.
White, A., Kraus, C., and Swartzwelder, H.S. (2006). Many freshman drink at levels far beyond the binge threshold.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 30(6), 1-5.
Thank you!
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Visit www.chooseresponsibility.org to learn
more
Email [email protected] with
questions
Alcohol is a reality in the lives of
young people. It cannot be denied,
ignored, or legislated away.