[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5863]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Roybal-Allard) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, this week, during Alcohol Awareness 
Month, I will introduce what I believe is the next logical step in 
Federal efforts to prevent underage drinking. My bill, the 
Reauthorization of the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act, 
builds on the successful public health efforts of the original bill, 
better known as the STOP Act.
  Since the STOP Act became law in 2006, there have been increased 
community efforts to address underage drinking as a public health 
crisis, and we have seen localized improvement in teen drinking 
statistics.
  While these positive results are encouraging, the fact remains 
alcohol still is the primary drug of choice of our youth. In 2009, 
about 10.4 million teens aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the 
past month. Of these, approximately 6.9 million were binge drinkers, 
and 2.1 million were heavy drinkers. Alarmingly, according to the 
latest publication of the Monitoring the Future survey, 53.7 percent of 
12th graders believe drinking five or more alcoholic beverages once or 
twice each weekend is not a significant risk. These facts leave little 
doubt about the need to continue Federal underage drinking prevention 
efforts to educate our society about the dangers of alcohol abuse among 
our youth.
  The STOP Act reauthorization bill will continue the successful 
programs of the original STOP Act, including the anti-underage drinking 
national media campaign directed at parents, the coordination of 
Federal efforts through the interagency council, and the grant program 
to help communities address underage drinking.
  As a result of the recent research, the bill also directs the 
Institute of Medicine to report on the impact of drinking alcohol on 
the development of the adolescent brain, and it establishes grants to 
train pediatric health care providers on how best to screen and treat 
children and teens who have had alcohol exposures.
  Mr. Speaker, continuing the investment of the STOP Act is a cost-
effective strategy to reduce the $53 billion annual cost of underage 
drinking to our Nation. Most importantly, it will reduce the suffering, 
violence, and death that far too often are caused by underage drinking.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the STOP Act reauthorization bill 
and keep our country moving forward in addressing this public health 
crisis facing our youth.

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