[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 4, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2520-H2521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH AND H. RES. 575

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cole). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, this evening we honored the Connecticut 
men's and women's basketball teams for winning national championships, 
a truly remarkable accomplishment to have two teams from one school do 
this. Not long ago, the National Academy of Science released a report 
on preventing underage drinking. This seems like disparate events, but 
they are actually connected.
  The National Academy of Science report recommended that colleges and 
universities ban alcohol advertising and promotion on campus in order 
to discourage alcohol use among underage students.
  Research points out the problem of alcohol consumption on college 
campuses. First of all, 1,400 college students are killed annually in 
alcohol-related accidents, and we have all anguished over the 
fatalities in Iraq, over 700. Well, more than double that number will 
be killed on college campuses this year because of alcohol abuse.
  The proportion of college students who say they drink to get drunk is 
rising. In 1993, roughly 40 percent of college students reported binge 
drinking.

[[Page H2521]]

By 2001, that figure had risen to 48 percent. Mr. Speaker, 70,000 
students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults each year. Most 
of these are date rapes. More than 500,000 students suffer alcohol-
related injuries annually.
  Despite these statistics, a total of $53 million in 2001 and $58 
million in 2002 was spent to place ads in college sports programs by 
the alcohol industry.
  The 2002 NCAA basketball tournament had more alcohol ads then the 
Super Bowl, the World Series, college bowl games, and Monday Night 
Football combined. Alcohol advertising made up more than twice the 
percentage of ad spending on college sports of all other television 
programs in 2001 and 2002. Recent riots at the University of 
Connecticut and Iowa State, as well as some of the recruiting scandals 
we have heard about on college campuses, have been fueled largely by 
alcohol.
  A spokesperson from the NCAA recently said, ``Alcohol advertising is 
not inconsistent with our mission.'' I beg to differ. The NCAA handbook 
states that NCAA policy should exclude ``advertisements that do not 
seem to be in the best interests of higher education.''
  As a result of the mixed messages our colleges and universities are 
sending, I have introduced House Resolution 575 calling upon NCAA 
member schools to voluntarily ban advertising on college sports 
broadcasts. This is simply a resolution. It is something I hope that 
Members of Congress will get behind because we think we need to call 
attention to the inconsistency of policies that our colleges and 
universities are promoting.
  Dean Smith, the former North Carolina basketball coach who set all 
kinds of coaching records said this. He said, ``If aspirin were the 
leading cause of death on college campuses, do you think chancellors, 
presidents, and trustees would allow aspirin commercials on basketball 
commercials on telecasts. They wouldn't, not for a minute.''
  I recently speak to Coach John Wooden, who won 10 NCAA basketball 
championships in 12 years; and he wholeheartedly endorses taking 
alcohol advertising out of college sports. So I would agree with Dean 
Smith and Don Wooden, because over 36 years on college campuses, I saw 
case after case where alcohol was the biggest problem that we 
encountered.
  Apparently others agree: 84 percent of Americans think advertising 
beer on college games is not in the best interests of higher education; 
71 percent of Americans support a ban of alcohol ads on college games; 
77 percent of parents say it is wrong for colleges to profit from 
alcohol advertising while trying to combat alcohol abuse on their 
campuses.
  The problem outlined by the National Academy of Science study goes 
beyond the college campus. I think this is certainly worthy of note, 
Mr. Speaker. Underage drinking is a serious issue in our middle 
schools, in our high schools and, in some cases, in our elementary 
schools. We have over 3 million teenage alcoholics in our country 
today. By the end of the eighth grade, 47 percent of students have 
engaged in heavy drinking. Most eighth graders are 13 years old. 
Children who drink before age 15 are four times more likely to become 
alcohol-dependent than those who wait until after 15. Underage drinking 
kills 6.5 times more youth than all other illegal drugs combined; and 
yet this problem flies largely under the radar screen. Underage 
drinking costs the American taxpayers each year more than $50 billion. 
Despite these numbers, the Federal Government spends 25 times more on 
combating drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and heroin than on 
preventing underage alcohol use.
  I urge my colleagues to pay attention to this serious problem, as we 
are going to shortly introduce some legislation to combat this 
particular issue.

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