[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1508-E1509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ISSUES FACING YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 31, 1998

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to have printed in the Record 
these statements by high school students from my home State of Vermont, 
who were speaking at my recent town meeting on issues facing young 
people today. I am asking that you please insert these statements in 
the Congressional Record as I believe that the views of these young 
people will benefit my colleagues

    Statement by Erica Lewis and Dan Johnson regarding Drunk Driving

       ERICA LEWIS: We would like to express a concern that is 
     becoming a big issue with teen Vermonters today. Our concern 
     is probably the same as many others: Teen driving under the 
     influence of alcohol
       Young adults are usually both inexperienced drivers as well 
     as inexperienced drinkers. These two combined is a fatality 
     waiting to happen. Alcohol, when consumed, decreases 
     alertness, causes depression, nausea, unconsciousness, 
     hangovers, and possible overdose, which could lead to death. 
     We, as teenagers, should be aware of the serious risks that 
     are involved when wrong choices are made and lives are at 
     stake. Driving should be considered a privilege, not a right, 
     for we all have the right to be safe while driving, and when 
     alcohol is involved, no one can predict the outcome. Anyone 
     of us here today could be driving down the road next week 
     and, because of a drunk driver, never make it to where we 
     were headed. Because of this increasing problem, there needs 
     to be more awareness of alcohol and its effects. It is up to 
     us, the younger generation, to make an impression on our 
     peers and those that follow, and most of all to prove to our 
     elders that we have what it takes to make the right decisions 
     and follow through.
       There is no overall solution to this problem, but we, as 
     mature young adults, should make a strong effort to plan 
     ahead before it gets to a point where it might be too late, 
     whether that be make arrangements for a designated driver or 
     staying until you are capable of driving.
       DAN JOHNSON. A suggestion that we have and strongly agree 
     with is a paper called a contract for life. It is an 
     agreement between teenagers and their parents stating, if at 
     any given time that either they feel incapable of driving, 
     there will be transportation provided, and safe 
     transportation for them. This contract was given to us from 
     our drivers ed teachers at the Essex Technical Center. Other 
     suggestions that we agree with is larger penalties for adults 
     in furnishing alcohol for minors at stores to sell this. Teen 
     drinking and driving will always be a problem, but, 
     hopefully, with our help, we can reduce it. Thank you for our 
     time.
       CONGRESSMAN SANDERS. A very important contribution to this 
     discussion. Thank very much.

 Statement by Bill Doe, Nick Bullard, Mike Currier and Heather Doloff 
             Regarding Teen Drinking and Drug Usage Survey

       BILL DOE: First of all, we would like to thank you for 
     inviting us to this event today. And we would like to make a 
     minor correction on the program guide. Our presentation is 
     focused mainly on the alcohol abuse and not so much drug 
     abuse.
       In preparation for this presentation, we conducted a survey 
     amongst our junior and senior peers. The topic of the survey 
     was underaged drinking. Some of our survey questions were as 
     follows:
       MIKE CURRIER: It goes: How old are you? Do you drink? If 
     so, how often? Do you ever drink and drive, or ride with 
     somebody who has been drinking? Why do you drink? To be 
     rebellious; tastes good; to get rid of problems; to get 
     wasted; and, a social drinker. The last question was: What do 
     you think about lowering the drinking age?
       HEATHER DOFOFF: And our results turned out to be most of 
     the people who drank were age 18, 17, 16, and we had a few 
     who were aged 19, and we did not take surveys from people 
     under 16.
       On the average, people drink and they tend to drink once or 
     two times monthly, and a few do drink more than that, and we 
     did have just under 20 people who we surveyed, out of a 
     hundred, who did not drink at all.
       And, overall, people don't drive when they have been 
     drinking or don't ride with someone who has been drinking. 
     Only about 30 people we surveyed said that they did, 10 said 
     sometimes, and 60 said not at all, which is encouraging.
       And the most common cause for people to drink was that they 
     are a social drinker, which leads me to believe that peer 
     pressure is playing a large role in it.
       BILL DOE: We also found that many of the people that we 
     interviewed or surveyed, actually, would have liked the 
     drinking age to be lowered to 16. Now, I tend to think that 
     was more of a case of not being mature, they want to go out 
     and party and have a good time, and wouldn't be young enough 
     to be able to do it legally.
       In many countries, you will find the drinking age is very 
     young, perhaps, I think, 16. And it has proven to actually 
     work in many countries, I think only because it has kind of 
     been found as, you know, it is just a given, that is what 
     their society accepts, and they have grown to a certain 
     maturity level that they can live with that.
       If we were to, perhaps, lower the drinking age, I think we 
     would have to do it gradually, perhaps like one year at a 
     time, or lower it to like maybe 20 in five years, or 19 the 
     next five years, gradually getting down to maybe 18, perhaps. 
     And maybe then our society will be mature enough to handle it 
     and perhaps be mature about it.
       NICK BULLARD: As you can see from our graphs, we have done 
     extensive work with certain questions dealing with underage 
     drinking. In this year alone, the drinking problem in this 
     state has risen greatly, with numerous deaths resulting. This 
     is why the State is cracking down on underage drinking, from 
     the special task force known as START Team to DUI teams. 
     These peoples' only job is to control drinking and driving in 
     Vermont. START concentrates only on underage drinking.
       CONGRESSMAN SANDERS: Thanks very much.

   Statement by Elizabeth Cartier, Anne Mitiguy, Jason Magnani, Eric 
  Moran, Danielle Pezzimenti and Ted Demulder Regarding Teen Drinking

       ELIZABETH CARTIER: Today we would like to express our 
     concern about alcohol advertising and the effects it has on 
     youth. Alcohol is the number one drug used among young 
     people. Eight teenagers a day die due to alcohol-related 
     accidents. About two-thirds of teenagers who drink say they 
     can buy their own alcohol. It is said that one out of every 
     280 babies born today will die in an automobile accident that 
     is alcohol related. Traffic accidents are the single greatest 
     cause of death between the ages of 6 and 28. About 47 percent 
     of these accidents are alcohol-related. 56 percent of 
     students in grades 5 through 12 say that alcohol advertising 
     encourages them to drink.
       TED DEMULDER: We have a poster to illustrate underage 
     drinking. There are 10 million underage drinkers in the 
     United States. Of those 10 million, 4.4 million are binge 
     drinkers, which means they have 5 drinks or more, and 1.7 
     million teens drink heavily on a regular basis.
       JASON MAGNANI: Teenagers are known to be more susceptible 
     to alcoholic advertising than adults. This is especially true 
     when it comes to radio and television broadcasting. In June 
     of 1996, the Seagrams America Company began running Crown 
     Royal brand whiskey commercials in Corpus Christi, Texas. It 
     featured a dog labeled Obedience School Graduate who was 
     carrying a newspaper. Another dog labeled Valedictorian was 
     carrying a bottle of Crown Royal. In this ad, Seagrams 
     positioned liquor as an award for achievement.
       When liquor ads started to run on television, public health 
     groups and government officials reacted in an alarming way. 
     They said that, by running liquor ads on television, they 
     would be seen by young people and that sometimes they were 
     deliberately targeted at young people. In November of '96, 
     after the liquor ads came out, 26 members of Congress wrote 
     to the Federal Communications Corporation, urging them to 
     further investigate the liquor ads on television. They said 
     that they did not want children to get an image of academic 
     and athletic success, gained through drinking alcohol 
     beverages.
       ANNE MITIGUY: Consumer and public health groups scoff at 
     alcohol ads that are aimed at teenagers. They say that beer 
     is heavily advertised during televised sporting events. These 
     are mostly watched by high school and college aged students. 
     The Seagrams ads about the obedience dogs and the Budweiser 
     frogs are designed to catch the eye of young viewers. The 
     alcohol industry critics say that young people decide to 
     sample alcohol because of peer pressure but that advertising 
     reinforces their inner thoughts. The ads are mostly young, 
     attractive and healthy-looking adults. Most of the time, you 
     can't even really tell how old they are. They are drinking 
     beer, and at the end of the commercial, one of them says ``It 
     just can't get much better than this.'' These ads don't show 
     both sides. As they say, it might not get any better, but it 
     can get a whole lot worse. This is a side that should be 
     shown more often, but isn't.
       TED DEMULDER: In flipping through two mainstream magazines 
     for our collage, Newsweek and People, we came across various 
     alcohol advertisements. The Barcardi ads shows an unrealistic 
     view of what happens to people when they drink. The Absolut 
     ads have become coffee book material for many teenagers that 
     collect them. The slogan ``Forget the rules and enjoy the 
     wine'' shows how irresponsible people are, and basically the 
     companies are saying anyone can drink.
       ERIC MORIN: Because alcohol ads are very glorified and 
     intensified, more today than ever were before, they can be 
     very harmful to our generation and generations to come. These 
     ads exert constant and powerful pressure on today's youth. 
     With more and more

[[Page E1509]]

     kids exploring the Internet and the Worldwide web there is a 
     growing trend of advertising and promotional material. 
     Oftentimes the corporations use such techniques as up-to-the-
     minute sports scores, games and contests to promote their 
     type of alcohol. With all the advertising that is going on, 
     there is a growing influence upon youth today. What the 
     corporations have in mind is that, if they gear their ads 
     towards young adults, they will start to drink at a younger 
     age. Once they start to drink, soon the corporation will have 
     a lifelong customer. Our main concern about ads today is that 
     they are giving us an unrealistic view about what alcoholic 
     beverages are and what they can do to you.
       Congressman Sanders, after hearing this information, we 
     leave it in your hands to make proposals to remedy this 
     problem, such as placing more responsibility on the alcohol 
     companies to direct their ads at older and more mature 
     audiences, instituting stricter penalties to whose who 
     procure alcohol for teens, as well as those teens who try to 
     purchase it, and initiating a stronger community involvement 
     with alternatives to alcohol, such as rec centers, sports 
     leagues, and school-related affairs.
       CONGRESSMAN SANDERS: Excellent.

       

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