[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5051-5052]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           UNDERAGE DRINKING

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk to my colleagues 
about an important subject that has a significant impact on our 
national public health and on our children: underage drinking. My 
interest in this topic began as a member of the subcommittee of the 
Committee on Appropriations with jurisdiction over ONDCP, the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy.
  During my first year on the committee, I was surprised to discover 
that although Congress had appropriated $2 billion to conduct a media 
campaign directed at the illegal use of drugs by children, ONDCP had 
inexplicably left out their illegal use of alcohol. I was surprised by 
that because while drinking under the age of 21 is illegal in all 50 
States, over 10 million kids in the United States consume alcohol 
illegally, starting on average at age 13.
  The research on the damage caused by underage drinking is dramatic, 
and let me cite just two examples: The first is based on research by 
the National Institutes of Health that found that young people who 
begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to 
become alcoholics than those who begin drinking after the age of 21. 
The second, and perhaps most compelling finding, is the one with a 
direct relationship to illegal drug use based on the study by the 
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University, known as CASA. This study found that underage drinkers are 
22 times more likely to use marijuana and 50 times more likely to try 
cocaine than kids who do not drink under the age.
  In 1999, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and I attempted to 
add underage alcohol use to the ONDCP's youth antidrug media campaign. 
The Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Center for Science in the Public 
Interest, the National Crime Prevention Council, and a number of other 
organizations long associated with these issues, supported our efforts. 
Unfortunately, very powerful interests in the alcohol industry lobbied 
against the amendment to include warnings to parents and kids about the 
dangers of underage drinking, and our amendment was defeated by the 
Committee on Appropriations.
  Since that time, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), and I have introduced legislation 
to establish a separate national media campaign to reduce and to 
prevent underage drinking. Over 80 of our colleagues, both Republicans 
and Democrats, have sponsored this bill. Unfortunately, we have not 
been successful in passing the bill to date, but we will continue to 
make this fight.
  The importance of this fight was again highlighted last week when the 
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University, CASA, reported extremely troubling findings newsworthy 
enough to have appeared in the media across the Nation. CASA at 
Columbia University reported that teenagers account for nearly 20 
percent of the alcohol consumed in the United States every year. Adding 
to this troubling finding is the fact that Dr. Susan Foster, who led 
the CASA study, published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, said that she believed that these new estimates were very 
conservative.
  The President of CASA, Joseph Califano, a former secretary of the 
Department of Health, Education and Welfare and co-author of the CASA 
study, reported that approximately 5 million high school students 
admitted that at least once a month they consume five drinks on one 
occasion. This is extremely alarming since research suggests that 
alcohol, especially in large amounts, can harm the still developing 
teenage brain, not to mention the huge toll alcohol abuse has on the 
Nation, due to car accidents, injuries, high-risk sexual behavior and 
alcohol poisoning.
  To address this looming crisis, Mr. Califano and three former U.S. 
surgeons general; Dr. Julius Richmond, who served under Jimmy Carter; 
Dr. David Satcher, who served under President Bill Clinton; and Dr. 
Antonia Novello, who served under George W. Bush; issued a nationwide 
call to action, asking parents, the public health community, and the 
alcohol industry to join forces to stop this looming tragedy among our 
youth. Among their recommendations were that information about the 
dangers of excessive and underage drinking be included on labels as is 
now done for cigarettes. They also recommend that the nutritional 
content of alcohol products including calories appear on the labels. 
Mr. Califano and the surgeons general further recommend that Federal 
and State governments mount a public health campaign to curb alcohol 
abuse, particularly among children, teens, and college students.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to do everything we can to stop the illegal 
spending of $22.5 billion on illegal alcohol in this country, and we 
will continue to work together with the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Wolf), the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) and others to make sure 
that we address the serious crisis.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk to my colleagues about an important 
subject that has a significant impact on our national public health and 
our children: underage drinking. My interest in this topic began as a 
member of the Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over 
ONDCO--the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
  During my first year on the committee, I was surprised to discover 
that although Congress had appropriated $2 billion to conduct a media 
campaign directed at the illegal use of drugs by children, ONDCP had 
inexplicably left out their illegal use of alcohol. I was surprised by 
this because while drinking under the age of 21 is illegal in all 50 
states, over 10 million kids in the United States consume alcohol 
illegally starting, on average, at 13 years of age.
  The research on the damage caused by underage drinking is dramatic. 
Let me cite just two examples. The first is based on research

[[Page 5052]]

by the National Institutes of Health that found that young people who 
begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to 
become alcoholics than those who begin drinking after the age 21. The 
second, and perhaps the most compelling finding, is the one with a 
direct relationship to illegal drug use based on a study by the 
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University--CASA. This study found that underage drinkers are 22 times 
more likely to use marijuana and 50 times more likely to try cocaine 
than kids who do not drink.
  In 1999, Congressman Frank Wolf and I attempted to add underage 
alcohol use to the ONDCP'S youth anti-drug media campaign. The Mothers 
Against Drunk Driving, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, 
the National Crime Prevention Council, and a number of other 
organizations long associated with these issues, supported our efforts. 
Unfortunately, very powerful interests in the alcohol industry lobbied 
against the amendment to include warnings to parents and kids about the 
dangers of underage drinking, and our amendment was defeated by the 
Appropriations Committee.
  Since that time, Congressman Frank Wolf, Congressman Zack Wamp and I 
have introduced legislation to establish a separate national media 
campaign to reduce and prevent underage drinking. Over 80 of our 
colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, have sponsored our bill. 
Unfortunately, we have not been successful in passing the bill to date, 
but we will continue to make this important fight.
  The importance of this fight was again highlighted, last week, when 
the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University--CASA--reported extremely troubling findings newsworthy 
enough to have appeared in the media across the Nation. CASA at 
Columbia University reported that teenagers account for nearly 20 
percent of the alcohol consumed in the United States every year. Adding 
to this troubling finding is the fact that Dr. Susan Foster, who led 
the CASA study published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, said that she believed the new estimates were very 
conservative.
  The President of CASA, Joseph Califano, a former secretary of the 
Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and co-author of the CASA 
study reported that approximately 5 million high school students 
admitted that at least once a month they consume 5 drinks on one 
occasion. This is extremely alarming since research suggests that 
alcohol, especially in large amounts, can harm the still-developing 
teenage brain, not to mention that huge toll alcohol abuse has on the 
Nation due to car accidents, injuries, high-risk sexual behavior and 
alcohol poisoning.
  To address this looming crisis, Mr. Califano and three former U.S. 
surgeons-general--Dr. Julius Richmond, who served under President Jimmy 
Carter, Dr. David Satcher, who served under President Bill Clinton, and 
Dr. Antonia Novello, who served under President George W. Bush--Issued 
a national call to action, asking parents, the public health community, 
and the alcohol industry to join forces to stop this looming tragedy 
among our youth. Among their recommendations were that information 
about the dangers of excessive and underage drinking be included on 
labels, as is now done for cigarettes. They also recommend that the 
nutritional content of alcohol products, including calories, appear on 
the labels. Mr. Califano and the surgeons-general further recommend 
that Federal and State governments mount a public health campaign to 
curb alcohol abuse, particularly among children, teens and college 
students.
  In order to create a barrier to the purchase of alcohol, particularly 
among teens, who illegally spend $22.5 billion a year on alcohol, the 
former surgeons-general recommend increasing state and federal taxes on 
alcohol, so kids can't afford to spend a lot of money on illegal 
drinking. I believe these are common-sense recommendations that will 
help to curtail the severe problem in which 20 percent of our Nation's 
alcohol is consumed illegally by our children. Morally and practically 
we cannot afford to continue losing our children to alcohol abuse. 
Working together, buttressed by the best scientific evidence, I believe 
we can identify effective methods to protect our kids. I, with 
Congressman Frank Wolf and Congressman Zach Wamp, and the many other 
colleagues who have joined us will continue to work on this issue until 
we successfully address this public health crisis in our Nation.
  I thank my colleagues for their interest in this important matter 
affecting our Nation's children and our Nation's future.

                          ____________________