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108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2718
To provide for programs and activities with respect to the prevention
of underage drinking.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 22, 2004
Mr. DeWine (for himself and Mr. Dodd) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for programs and activities with respect to the prevention
of underage drinking.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Sober Truth on
Preventing Underage Drinking Act'', or the ``STOP Underage Drinking
Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I--SENSE OF CONGRESS
Sec. 101. Sense of Congress.
TITLE II--INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE; ANNUAL REPORT CARD
Sec. 201. Establishment of interagency coordinating committee to
prevent underage drinking.
Sec. 202. Annual report card.
Sec. 203. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE III--NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Sec. 301. National media campaign to prevent underage drinking.
TITLE IV--INTERVENTIONS
Sec. 401. Community-based coalition enhancement grants to prevent
underage drinking.
Sec. 402. Grants directed at reducing higher-education alcohol abuse.
TITLE V--ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
Sec. 501. Additional research on underage drinking.
Sec. 502. Authorization of appropriations.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Drinking alcohol under the age of 21 is illegal in each
of the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Enforcement of
current laws and regulations in States and communities, such as
minimum age drinking laws, zero tolerance laws, and laws and
regulations which restrict availability of alcohol, must
supplement other efforts to reduce underage drinking.
(2) Data collected annually by the Department of Health and
Human Services shows that alcohol is the most heavily used drug
by children in the United States, and that--
(A) more youths consume alcoholic beverages than
use tobacco products or illegal drugs;
(B) by the end of the eighth grade, 45.6 percent of
children have engaged in alcohol use, and by the end of
high school, 76.6 percent have done so; and
(C) the annual societal cost of underage drinking
is estimated at $53 to $58 billion.
(3) Data collected by the Department of Health and Human
Services and the Department of Transportation indicate that
alcohol use by youth has many negative consequences, such as
immediate risk from acute impairment; traffic fatalities;
violence; suicide; and unprotected sex.
(4) Research confirms that the harm caused by underage
drinking lasts beyond the underage years. Compared to persons
who wait until age 21 or older to start drinking, those who
start to drink before age 14 are, as adults, four times more
likely to become alcohol dependent; seven times more likely to
be in a motor vehicle crash because of drinking; and more
likely to suffer mental and physical damage from alcohol abuse.
(5) Alcohol abuse creates long-term risk developmentally
and is associated with negative physical impacts on the brain.
(6) Research indicates that adults greatly underestimate
the extent of alcohol use by youths, its negative consequences,
and its use by their own children. The IOM report concluded
that underage drinking cannot be successfully addressed by
focusing on youth alone. Ultimately, adults are responsible for
young people obtaining alcohol by selling, providing, or
otherwise making it available to them. Parents are the most
important channel of influence on their children's underage
drinking, according to the IOM report, which also recommends a
national adult-oriented media campaign.
(7) Research shows that public service health messages, in
combination with community-based efforts, can reduce health-
damaging behavior. The Department of Health and Human Services
and the Ad Council have undertaken a public health campaign
targeted at parents to combat underage alcohol consumption. The
Ad Council estimates that, for a typical public health
campaign, it receives an average of $28 million per year in
free media through its 28,000 media outlets nationwide.
(8) A significant percentage of the total alcohol
consumption in the United States each year is by underage
youth. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration reports that the percentage is over 11 percent.
(9) Youth are exposed to a significant amount of alcohol
advertising through a variety of media. Some studies indicate
that youth awareness of alcohol advertising correlates to their
drinking behavior and beliefs.
(10) According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and
Youth, in 2002, the alcoholic beverage industry spent $990.2
million on product advertising on television, and $10 million
on television advertising designed to promote the responsible
use of alcohol. For every one television ad discouraging
underage alcohol use, there were 609 product ads.
(11) Alcohol use occurs in 76 percent of movies rated G or
PG and 97 percent of movies rated PG-3. The Federal Trade
Commission has recommended restricting paid alcohol beverage
promotional placements to films rated R or NC-17.
(12) Youth spend 9 to 11 hours per week listening to music,
and 17 percent of all lyrics contain alcohol references; 30
percent of those songs include brand-name mentions.
(13) Studies show that adolescents watch 20 to 27 hours of
television each week, and 71 percent of prime-time television
episodes depict alcohol use and 77 percent contain some
reference to alcohol.
(14) College and university presidents have cited alcohol
abuse as the number one health problem on college and
university campuses.
(15) According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism, two of five college students are binge
drinkers; 1,400 college students die each year from alcohol-
related injuries, a majority of which involve motor vehicle
crashes; more than 70,000 students are victims of alcohol-
related sexual assault; and 500,000 students are injured under
the influence of alcohol each year.
(16) According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and
Youth, in 2002, alcohol producers spent a total of $58 million
to place 6,251 commercials in college sports programs, and
spent $27.7 million advertising during the NCAA men's
basketball tournament, which had as many alcohol ads (939) as
the Super Bowl, World Series, College Bowl Games and the
National Football League's Monday Night Football broadcasts
combined (925).
(17) The IOM report recommended that colleges and
universities ban alcohol advertising and promotion on campus in
order to demonstrate their commitment to discouraging alcohol
use among underage students.
(18) According to the Government Accountability Office
(``GAO''), the Federal Government spends $1.8 billion annually
to combat youth drug use and $71 million to prevent underage
alcohol use.
(19) The GAO concluded that there is a lack of reporting
about how these funds are specifically expended, inadequate
collaboration among the agencies, and no central coordinating
group or office to oversee how the funds are expended or to
determine the effectiveness of these efforts.
(20) There are at least three major, annual, government
funded national surveys in the United States that include
underage drinking data: the National Household Survey on Drug
Use and Health, Monitoring the Future, and the Youth Risk
Behavior Survey. These surveys do not use common indicators to
allow for direct comparison of youth alcohol consumption
patterns. Analyses of recent years' data do, however, show
similar results.
(21) Research shows that school-based and community-based
interventions can reduce underage drinking and associated
problems, and that positive outcomes can be achieved by
combining environmental and institutional change with theory-
based health education--a comprehensive, community-based
approach.
(22) Studies show that a minority of youth who need
treatment for their alcohol problems receive such services.
Further, insufficient information exists to properly assist
clinicians and other providers in their youth treatment
efforts.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ``binge drinking'' means a pattern of drinking
alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08
gm percent or above. For the typical adult, this pattern
corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more
drinks (female), in about 2 hours.
(2) The term ``heavy drinking'' means five or more drinks
on the same occasion in the past 30 days.
(3) The term ``frequent heavy drinking'' means five or more
drinks on at least five occasions in the last 30 days.
(4) The term ``alcoholic beverage industry'' means the
brewers, vintners, distillers, importers, distributors, and
retail outlets that sell and serve beer, wine, and distilled
spirits.
(5) The term ``school-based prevention'' means programs,
which are institutionalized, and run by staff members or
school-designated persons or organizations in every grade of
school, kindergarten through 12th grade.
(6) The term ``youth'' means persons under the age of 21.
(7) The term ``IOM report'' means the report released in
September 2003 by the National Research Council, Institute of
Medicine, and entitled ``Reducing Underage Drinking: A
Collective Responsibility''.
TITLE I--SENSE OF CONGRESS
SEC. 101. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that:
(1) A multi-faceted effort is needed to more successfully
address the problem of underage drinking in the United States.
A coordinated approach to prevention, intervention, treatment,
and research is key to making progress. This Act recognizes the need
for a focused national effort, and addresses particulars of the Federal
portion of that effort.
(2) States and communities, including colleges and
universities, are encouraged to adopt comprehensive prevention
approaches, including--
(A) evidence-based screening, programs and
curricula;
(B) brief intervention strategies;
(C) consistent policy enforcement; and
(D) environmental changes that limit underage
access to alcohol.
(3) Public health and consumer groups have played an
important role in drawing the Nation's attention to the health
crisis of underage drinking. Working at the Federal, State, and
community levels, and motivated by grass-roots support, they
have initiated effective prevention programs that have made
significant progress in the battle against underage drinking.
(4) The alcohol beverage industry has developed and paid
for national education and awareness messages on illegal
underage drinking directed to parents as well as consumers
generally. According to the industry, it has also supported the
training of more than 1.6 million retail employees, community-
based prevention programs, point of sale education, and
enforcement programs. All of these efforts are aimed at further
reducing illegal underage drinking and preventing sales of
alcohol to persons under the age of 21. All sectors of the
alcohol beverage industry have also voluntarily committed to
placing advertisements in broadcast and magazines where at
least 70 percent of the audiences are expected to be 21 years
of age or older. The industry should continue to monitor and
tailor its advertising practices to further limit underage
exposure, including the use of independent third party review.
The industry should continue and expand evidence-based efforts
to prevent underage drinking.
(5) Public health and consumer groups, in collaboration
with the alcohol beverage industry, should explore
opportunities to reduce underage drinking.
(6) The entertainment industries have a powerful impact on
youth, and they should use rating systems and marketing codes
to reduce the likelihood that underage audiences will be
exposed to movies, recordings, or television programs with
unsuitable alcohol content, even if adults are expected to
predominate in the viewing or listening audiences.
(7) Objective scientific evidence and data should be
generated and made available to the general public and policy
makers at the local, state, and national levels to help them
make informed decisions, implement judicious policies, and
monitor progress in preventing childhood/adolescent alcohol
use.
(8) The National Collegiate Athletic Association, its
member colleges and universities, and athletic conferences
should affirm a commitment to a policy of discouraging alcohol
use among underage students and other young fans by ending all
alcohol advertising during radio and television broadcasts of
collegiate sporting events.
TITLE II--INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE; ANNUAL REPORT CARD
SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE TO
PREVENT UNDERAGE DRINKING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in
collaboration with the Federal officials specified in subsection (b),
shall establish an interagency coordinating committee focusing on
underage drinking (referred to in this section as the ``Committee'').
(b) Other Agencies.--The officials referred to in subsection (a)
are the Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
Transportation, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of
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