By Michael Murray
Collegian Staff Writer

A new state law that shields underage drinkers from prosecution when calling for medical attention for a sick friend will take effect on Sept. 5.

The law, which was officially signed by Gov. Tom Corbett on July 7, is intended to encourage young people to do the right thing for a sick friend should a dangerous situation arise, Sean Moll said, legislative assistant for Sen. John Rafferty who sponsored the bill.

“There is no doubt that this law is going to save lives,” Moll said. “Only time will tell how many.”

Moll said young people often try to do the right thing for their friends by putting them to bed while they are dangerously intoxicated. The safer decision in an emergency like this, he said, is to call medical authorities.

Linda LaSalle, associate director for educational services at University Health Services, said the new law will help young people feel more comfortable calling for help in a alcohol related emergency.

“It will support students to make the right decision, and that’s what is important,” LaSalle said.

The law, often referred to as the Good Samaritan Law, does specify a few provisions that help to ensure it will protect callers with the intention of helping the sick individual, rather than those only seeking protection for themselves.

According to the new law, the caller must have reasonable belief that he is the first one to make the call for the sick individual. Next, the caller must provide the authorities with his or her real full name. Finally, the caller must stay with the sick individual until the authorities arrive. If these provisions are met, the caller will not be prosecuted for underage possession or consumption of alcohol.

LaSalle said students should always take action to get their friends help, even if they are only slightly worried for their friend’s health. With this law, she said, students will be able to put their friend’s safety ahead of the fear of getting in trouble.

“It’s always more important to save a friend’s life,” LaSalle said.

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2011

“Good Samaritan” Bill in PA House
A bill granting partial immunity to underage drinkers who call the authorities when their friends’ lives are threatened due to alcohol is winning praise from student leaders.

Dan Florencio, the president of Penn State University’s Interfraternity Council, said he’s heard a similar story time after time. “Someone just appeared really, really sick, and people were just like, ‘oh, let him sleep it off.’ Because they don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” he explained. “They don’t want to implicate themselves or the person. So they just let them sleep it off, or brush it off, when really, something really bad could be happening to the person’s body, because of alcohol.”

The council represents 46 fraternities and sororities, which include more than 2,600 students.

The so-called “Good Samaritan” bill, which is currently in front of the House, would offer legal amnesty to underage drinkers who call 911 when their friend drinks too much.

Felicity Debacco Ernie, the state coordinator for Students Against Destructive Decisions, said her group supports the measure, and believes it would solve a recurring problem. “I think it is pretty real, and I think that it is a decision that, unfortunately, a lot of students are making, not to get the help, because they’re fearful of their own legal issues that will come into play then,” she said, adding, “ It’s a very serious consequence for people who are charged with underage drinking these days.”

The bill passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, but it’s not clear if or when the House will take it up.

Alice Englin, Partners in Prevention

Parents are key in preventing underage drinking. Many studies have shown this to be true. When Freeborn County Partners In Prevention facilitates listening sessions in schools we hear over and over the impact parents have on kids decisions to drink or not. Following is an article written by Michelle Trudeau from the website www.npr.org.

As teenagers mature into their senior year of high school, many parents begin to feel more comfortable about letting them drink alcohol. But new research from brain scientists and parenting experts suggests loosening the reins on drinking may not be a good idea in the long run. And, researchers say, parents’ approach to addressing teen drinking does influence a teen’s behavior.

Brain researchers are finding that alcohol has a particularly toxic effect on the brain cells of adolescents. That’s because their brain cells are still growing, says Susan Tapert, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

The regions of the brain important for judgment, critical thinking and memory do not fully mature until a person is in his or her mid-20s. Tapert found that alcohol can damage the normal growth and development of a teenager’s brain cells in these regions.

“Adolescents who engage in binge drinking (that is, having five or more drinks on occasion for boys, or four or more drinks on occasion for females) tend to show some brain abnormalities in their brain’s white matter. That’s the fibers that connect different parts of our brains,” she wrote in a recent study.

And if binge drinking continues, within two to three years, Tapert says, it can result in subtle declines in a teen’s thinking and memory. She reports declines in attention and memory among the teens who had engaged in binge drinking.

“Teenagers who initiate heavy drinking actually go downhill relative to kids who do not initiate heavy drinking during adolescence on several measures of cognitive function,” she says

There is a lot of variability among individuals, but Tapert concludes that for some teens there may be no safe level of alcohol use. She saw negative effects in thinking and memory in teens after just 12 drinks in a month, or two or three binge drinking episodes a month.

The role of parents

So if parents want to give a “no alcohol” message to their teens, what can they do? Alcohol researcher Caitlin Abar from Pennsylvania State University found that parents’ efforts do play a role in shaping their teens’ behavior. She studied how parents deal with their high school teenagers regarding alcohol use while still at home, and she then checked after the teens’ first semester of college. Her study of 300 teenagers and their parents was published recently in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

“Parents who disapproved completely of underage alcohol use tended to have students who engaged in less drinking, less binge drinking, once in college,” Abar says.

And conversely, a parent’s permissiveness about teenage drinking is a significant risk factor for later binge drinking.

“The parents who are more accepting of teen drinking in high school were more likely to have children who engaged in risky drinking behaviors in college, compared to those children who had parents that were less accepting,” Abar says. The researchers also asked the teens about their parents’ drinking patterns and found that parents’ own drinking behavior influenced a teen’s later alcohol use.

Rules matter

But, it was parents’ rules that had the strongest effect, says Abar. Complete disapproval of teen drinking by parents was the most protective, even more than when parents allowed a limited amount of alcohol consumption.

Other studies support Abar’s findings. Psychology professor Mark Wood from the University of Rhode Island says that parental monitoring — knowing where your teenagers are, who they’re with, what they’re doing — also pays off in terms of less drinking when they go off to college.

“The protective effects that parents exert in high school continue to be influential into college,” Wood says. “Even after a time when the kids have left the home. So it’s the internalization of those values, attitudes and expectations that seem to continue to exert an effect.”

Research studies by Wood, Abar and others challenge the common parenting practice in much of Europe where kids are socialized to drink at the family table, with the expectation that they’ll learn to drink responsibly. Dutch researcher Haske van der Vorst has studied this “European drinking model.”

“A lot of parents have the idea,” says van der Vorst, “that if I let my child drink at home with friends, then at least I can control it somehow. I can buy the alcohol myself. Then I am in control.”

Unfortunately, she says, based on her research, the European drinking model isn’t working. “Not at all actually,” she says. “The more teenagers drink at home, the more they will drink at other places, and the higher the risk for problematic alcohol use three years later.”

To underscore these findings, a recent survey of 15- and 16-year-olds throughout Europe finds that the majority of European countries have a higher rate of teen drunkenness than in this country.

This does not surprise researcher Abar.

“It really calls into question the strategy that parents are adopting of the European drinking model,” she says. “The most protective strategy for parents is to make it really clear to their teens that they completely disapprove of underage alcohol use.”

Abar says that families that institute a zero tolerance policy will not prevent college students and other teens from drinking. But, she says, teenagers from those households do tend to drink less.

For more information or join us in preventing and reducing youth substance use please contact us.

Alice Englin is the coordinator for Freeborn County Partners In Prevention. Their mission is to prevent and reduce substance use and abuse among youth in Freeborn County.

STATE COLLEGE — Clad in green and blowing vuvuzelas, thousands of young people swarmed downtown State College on Saturday to celebrate State Patty’s Day, a student-created holiday centered on drinking.

Despite efforts by local officials to tamp down this year’s festivities, State College police Lt. Chris Fishel reported there were more people in town and more crime than last year’s event.

Police responded to more than 110 incidents in a 24-hour period through Saturday morning, about three times as many as a normal Friday night, Fishel said. During the entire State Patty’s Day weekend last year, State College police responded to about 365 calls related to the event, most of them alcohol-related.

Fights, false identification, and public urination and intoxication represented a majority of offenses committed by Saturday afternoon, Fishel said, adding that he expected the revelry to continue until about 4 a.m. today.

A spokeswoman for Mount Nittany Medical Center reported more than 40 people had been treated for alcohol-related injuries and conditions from 9 p.m. Thursday through 9 p.m. Saturday, some with severe injuries.

As with previous years’ festivities, many of those getting in trouble are not Penn State students. Fishel reported misdemeanors involving students from the University of Pittsburgh, St. Joseph’s University, Slippery Rock University, Virginia Tech and the University of West Virginia.

“It’s like a home football night game. People are partying right up to kickoff, except there’s no kickoff,” Fishel said.

Streets downtown began to see State Patty’s Day-related traffic by about 10 a.m. By 2 p.m., there were lines to get int bars, and the sidewalks were packed with revelers. The streets stayed crowded through the afternoon and into the night. At about 9:40 p.m., Indigo, a nightclub at 112 W. College Ave., shut down because of the large crowd that had lined up waiting to get inside, police said. The line stretched to South Fraser Street and was blocking traffic.

Earlier in the day, Andrew and Mark, two young men who wouldn’t give their last names, said they had come from Bucknell University and the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, respectively, for the party.

“There’s no party this size at Bucknell,” Andrew said.

A student from Bloomsburg University, waiting to get into the Gingerbread Man, said he came to State College to see what the hype was about.

“This town is really live,” he said. “It seems like State Patty’s is like a rite of passage for students, and the authorities trying to stop it just make it worse because we’re going to rage either way.”

One young man traveled 14 hours from Alabama to celebrate his first State Patty’s Day. After climbing atop a mound of snow in front of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and posing for pictures with a keg of beer, he expressed his excitement for the alcohol-fueled celebration.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” he said. “My best friend is a junior here, and he’s been trying to get me up here forever. He was recruiting a bunch of us for months. I don’t know any other place that has this much fun.”

When asked if he was drunk, he answered, “If you’re asking me if I’m having fun, my answer is yes.”

Police reported at least four citations that included hospitalization, three of them related to underage drinking:

•At 11:17 p.m. Friday, a 20-year-old man was seen by police falling down repeatedly while walking on McKee Street. After he was brought to Mount Nittany Medical Center for treatment, he became disorderly and had to be restrained and sedated. He will be charged with disorderly conduct.

•A drunken 19-year-old was found trying to enter a house on the 400 block of Martin Terrace at around 11:30 p.m. on Friday. He was also taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center.

•A 16-year-old boy was found intoxicated, lying down and throwing up on the sidewalk on the 500 block of South Pugh Street at 12:52 a.m. Saturday. He was hospitalized and will be charged with providing false information to police.

•A man who passed out drunk in the lobby of the Days Inn at 240 S. Pugh St. at 3:31 a.m. Saturday also took a trip to the hospital.

Not everyone out on the streets downtown Saturday was out to party. A few local churches had a stand set up on McAllister Street and were handing out free hot chocolate and water.

“We’re just trying to keep people hydrated and keep some kids out of the hospital,” volunteer Kim Dick said.

Cliff White can be reached at 235-3928. Wildamie Ceus is a journalism student at Penn State.

“This survey’s findings should serve as a reminder to parents and the entire community that no one is immune to the dangers of alcohol misuse and abuse,” Patrick J. “PJ” Stapleton, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, says in a statement.

The survey, required annually by law, presents updated information on levels and trends of underage consumption of alcohol prevention programs supported by agency partners and science-based, proven prevention strategies.

Using data collected via the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Pennsylvania Youth Survey and the Core Institute at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale, the study reports:

– Pennsylvania youth ages 12-17 have a lower rate of alcohol dependence and abuse than the national average.

– Slightly more than one-third of those youth believe there is a “great risk” in using alcohol.

– Nearly 90 percent of Pennsylvania college students report having used alcohol in their lifetime, compared to 86 percent nationwide.

– 65 percent of Pennsylvania college students reported having their first drink by the age of 17.

– Slightly more than half of Pennsylvania college students believe the social atmosphere of their campus promotes alcohol use.

STATE COLLEGE — Green beer. Green shirts. Green beads. Green shamrocks.

To the rest of the country they mean St. Patrick’s Day, but in State College they all point to Saturday, the drinking “holiday” called State Patty’s Day that has come to confound university officers, borough officials and business owners alike.

Originally created by students because St. Patrick’s Day fell during spring break in 2007, the popularity of State Patty’s Day has grown each year, along with the partying, the drinking, the arrests and the soured town-gown relations.

Determined to tamp down the event, Penn State officials started planning months ago. A Sept. 17 report on alcohol initiatives to the board of trustees included steps aimed at “downplaying State Patty’s Day.”

Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims’s report called for efforts to discourage vendors from promoting the day, “a game day-like law enforcement presence,” and messages about responsible behavior from student leaders and organizations. All of those things have been done. Whether they will affect what happens on Saturday remains to be seen.

The university acted on Sims’s first step Dec. 17, when he and Albert Horvath, university senior vice president for finance and business, sent an open letter to borough merchants, including bars and T-shirt shops.

The letter asked the businesses to get rid of products, displays and services that promote State Patty’s Day and the “climate of over-indulgence it encourages.”

It urged merchants to not change operating hours that day or sell anything that would give the public the impression that State Patty’s Day is a community celebration, whether it be merchandise, apparel or drink specials.

The letter ended with a plea to the merchants to join with the university in putting an end to the annual event.

Meanwhile, State College police and university police plan to get help in the form of extra officers from Bellefonte and Ferguson, Patton and Spring township police departments.

The Centre County Alcohol Task Force said it also will have numerous officers on patrol, in conjunction with State College police, and says it will take a zero-tolerance approach to alcohol and drug-related crimes.

State College Police Chief Thomas King said that last year saw the highest number of criminal activity reports of any State Patty’s Day, or of any other weekend that year. “Hopefully, with increased personnel, we can have a more controlled situation,” King said.

“I won’t go into numbers, but we’re treating it like any other home football game or arts fest,” said State College Capt. John Gardner.

The state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, borough residents and campus volunteers also have been enlisted to watch for drunk and disorderly conduct. State College police asked that community members and volunteers be safe, sober, visible and alert during the weekend to promote safety effectively.

From the perspective of some merchants, however, the negative view of State Patty’s Day in the community and at the university has had little effect on their customers.

T-shirt sales at People’s Nation and The Family Clothesline, both downtown merchants, are similar to those of last year, according to representatives of both stores.

The Family Clothesline received a letter from Jody Alessandrine, executive director of the Downtown State College Improvement District, asking them to “not promote a fake holiday,” store coordinator Tracy Bell said.

The store is carrying shirts with State Patty’s printed on them. It considers the day an event similar to a game day or holiday, and selling the shirts is not an endorsement, Bell said. “We provide shirts for every occasion.”

Bell stated The Family Clothesline’s view: “We do not condone excessive drinking. But with that said, we can’t control what people do in our merchandise.” Some of those making money on State Patty’s Day have been students and non-students who have designed and are selling T-shirts for the event. Rachel Yamin, a Penn State junior, and Brett Kazatsky, a Bloomsburg University student, sold more than 2,000 T-shirts through a Facebook event by Jan 13. Both Yamin and Kazatsky declined to comment on their final sales figures.

For bar owners, decisions on what to do on State Patty’s Day are not easily made.

Chris Rosengrant, owner of the Lion’s Den, took a hard stance last year when he shut down operations completely on State Patty’s Day. He said he will do it again this year.

“This day is an eyesore for Penn State and for State College,” he said. “It has lost its purpose.”

He wasn’t alone last year — the Shandygaff also closed — and he said he won’t be surprised if several other bars take the same step this year.

“In my estimation, you’re probably going to see a lot more bars closed (this year). It has been very public that there is going to be heavy enforcement of liquor laws in State College,” Rosengrant said. Enforcement last year translated into the citation of nine bars and 241 people during the day.

Of the 241 cited, just 91 were identified as Penn State students. Rosengrant said a large number of “out-of-towners” were a major contributor to the increased alcohol-related crime that day.

Last year, the State College Tavern Association encouraged bars to offer no specials and operate on normal hours despite the “holiday.” It is not known what its message is this year.

Jennifer Zangrilli, president of the association, could not be reached for comment despite a number of attempts over several weeks. Kildare’s announced that it will not be offering any drink specials and will have a mandatory cover charge.

In his Sept. 17 alcohol initiatives report to the Penn State trustees, Sims also listed the idea of encouraging faculty to create “academic expectations for students on Friday and the succeeding Monday” around State Patty’s Day to help mitigate problems.

Whether that idea has gained any traction on campus has been hard to gauge.

Some students said they plan to participate in the day whether professors schedule an exam or assignment before State Patty’s Day or not.

Laura Davis, a Penn State sophomore said, “My assignments and exam schedule don’t normally change my weekend plans, so it is no different than with State Patty’s Day. I have an exam the following Monday, but it won’t affect whether or not I participate in the holiday.”

Among faculty, several said they were unaware of the date of State Patty’s Day when they created their syllabus or felt scheduling an exam or assignment before or after the weekend would cause more problems.

“Some students come to class intoxicated, which is not good for the educational climate and bothers students who are interested in learning,” said Andrew Peck, senior lecturer and assistant director of psychology undergraduate studies.

“I don’t think anyone believes that faculty should have the power to constrain a student’s freedom outside of the class environment,” Peck said. “As educators, I believe our job is to teach students about our areas of expertise.”

For Rosengrant, what he saw on the streets last year convinced him that his decision to close was correct.

“How do you explain to your kid why the 20-year-old college student is puking in the middle of the sidewalk at 11 a.m.? That experience convinced me that I made the right move in closing,” he said.

The lure of money — “tens of thousands,” in Rosengrant’s words — is tempting, he said, but the risk is too high for the reward.

Joshua Ballard, Wildamie Ceus, Katie Moffitt and Anita Oh are Penn State journalism students.

My name is Erik and I am a dean’s list student at Penn State. When I came to State College as a freshman, I knew I wanted to be involved in as much as I could. I was extremely involved in high school as a student leader, athlete and scholar. With my love for Penn State, I wanted to continue this over the next four years in Happy Valley.

Freshman year I accomplished everything I set out to. I studied hard, became involved in myriad activities, and assumed prominent leadership roles. Bleeding blue and white, I considered myself to be the consummate Penn Stater. Unfortunately this meant I also partied like a true Nittany Lion: hard and often.

Eventually my drinking landed me in the hospital from an alcohol overdose. Because that was my first time in the emergency room, I wrote it off as bad luck. I had not had a history of binge drinking in high school and wasn’t worried about my frequent drinking habits at Penn State.

My first trip to Mount Nittany Medical Center would prove not to be an isolated case. The second time I ended up in the hospital, a few months later, I considered it an unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Judicial Affairs warned me that if I had a third offense in the same calendar year I would be suspended. There is nothing in the world that I loved more than being a Penn State student. I vowed to control my drinking.

However, control was not in my vocabulary. Six months later I woke up in the hospital, incredulous I could have gotten myself into this situation again. What had happened to me? Why couldn’t I control myself?

I knew the consequences of my actions yet I still allowed myself to engage in dangerous behavior. Facing imminent suspension along with the thought of failing everyone back home brought me to the lowest point in my life.

My parents understood that I had a problem, one they were familiar with. My grandmother had died at an early age from alcoholism, and other members of my dad’s family had issues with alcohol. They brought me to my first 12-step program meeting.

Walking through those doors was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Admitting I had a problem was incredibly difficult and humbling for a person who was used to success. However, attending 12-step meetings and counseling and the support of family and friends made me realize my suspension was the best thing to happen to me. I was able to come to terms with my problem and discover my life was better off without drinking in it.

Eventually I simply stopped drinking and started living out my sobriety. Alcohol abuse is a gradual progression down to each person’s respective bottom. It is also a gradual process of recovery and living in a new way. I will always be vulnerable to alcohol, but I will continue to grow and learn about this more enriching way of life.

As a requirement to return to Penn State, I had to write a letter to myself about the pros and cons of drinking versus remaining sober. This forced me to really think about what is important. I read the letter at least once a week to remind myself of all I have to lose by drinking. It also reminds me of how much I have to be grateful for and how good my life is today.

I have returned to Penn State and am once again involved in activities, leadership roles and my school work. I have not returned to my drinking habits and have been sober since that fateful day of my third hospitalization.

A problem with alcohol does not have to dictate how the rest of your life plays out. I am grateful for all my experiences because they have made me stronger and more aware of what my priorities in life are. I am able to take advantage of everything life has to offer.

This is the gift sobriety has given me. It is one I wish to share and is available for anyone who needs it.

Erik volunteered to share his story. His last name has been withheld.

Specifically, Senate Bill 448 would grant immunity to an individual for the summary offense of underage drinking as it relates to the consumption of alcoholic beverages by a person under the age of 21. Under the provisions of Senator Rafferty’s legislation, an individual must call 911 to report the person in need of medical attention, must provide their name to the dispatcher, and must remain with the person in need of assistance.

Senator Rafferty, who has been an ardent supporter and author of tougher laws to prevent underage drinking, said his legislation – which passed unanimously out of the Senate last session – is intended to protect public safety and prevent needless tragedies.

“Underage drinking is a serious matter, and we don’t want to give minors a free pass. But if kids are in trouble and require medical attention, we shouldn’t discourage anyone in a position to help them from seeking critical and timely aid,” Senator Rafferty said. “This legislation has support from several groups, including the Pennsylvania DUI Association and state District Attorneys Association because it provides a safe way to defuse an unsafe situation.”

You know that photo of you, bleary-eyed and smiley, red plastic cup in hand? You know the one. You look like a hot, drunk mess, your friend keeps tagging you in it, it’s on Facebook for the whole Internet to see? That one. I bet you’d be having words with your tag-happy little pal if the UA administration were keeping tabs on your profile.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, much of the discussion at the National Conference on Law and Higher Education centered around issues presented by Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. These issues have colleges wondering if there is a need to police the Internet in order to monitor what their students and faculty members are doing or posting online.

In May 2006, Stacey Snyder was a student at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, just days away from her graduation at the time. Then the university denied her a teaching degree. The university claimed it was because a photo on her MySpace profile. Remember, it was 2006 and people still used MySpace.

The photo in question was captioned “Drunken Pirate” and featured Snyder in a pirate hat and drinking from a red plastic cup. According to the university, it promoted underage drinking. Snyder was 25 years old then, and working as a student teacher at a high school. She maintained the photo was taken off campus and after school hours at a costume party.

Snyder sued Millersville University for refusing her a degree, citing it as a violation of her right to free speech. She eventually earned an English degree instead. A federal judge ruled against her in 2008. According to The Washington Post, university officials said the case was not an issue of First Amendment rights, but of performance. The photo, they said, was just one example of many that Snyder did not deserve a degree in education.

Some colleges have codes of conduct and policies pertaining specifically to social media. Concordia University expects students to “assume the responsibility for the content posted and are subject to sanctions” if that content violates Concordia’s conduct code.

These policies also sometimes attempt to address online harassment, especially in response to cases like Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who killed himself after his roommate secretly recorded him with another man on a webcam. The problem is defining what online bullying is, and where to draw the line between offensive speech and speech that legitimately interferes with someone else’s education.

Cases like Snyder’s or Clementi’s, and discussions like the one at the National Conference on Law and Higher Education, ask: How should a university babysit what its students and employees post on the Internet? Should there be any obligation to do so?

I don’t actually know how much of a reach a social media policy should have. While universities wrestle with the wording of policies that people won’t read anyway, students ought to take responsibility on an individual basis, of their own accord. You’ve had a few too many if you think an employer should be able to find your record for tequila shots via Google.

There are existing precautions for making sure anything that the university, or a future employer, could deem inappropriate and against any code of conduct is hidden. Set your profile to private. Google yourself. If you can still find your Facebook, be more private. The same applies to every hash tag you use on Twitter, each photo you reblog on Tumblr, everything.

But more importantly, remember that privacy settings only go so far. The fact that university administrations are beginning to wonder if they are obligated to include social media clauses in their student and faculty conduct policies should be an embarrassment to all of us. Only the most naive people expect you to avoid all college kid shenanigans. But everyone should expect you to keep them offline.

For the sake of making sure you don’t lose your degree because you had to be a drunken pirate, think before you post.
— Kristina Bui is the opinions editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today, along with Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), introduced the Sober Truth on Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act Reauthorization, legislation designed to prevent underage drinking. According to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey released yesterday, the largest national survey of adolescents regarding their drug and alcohol use, underage drinking has decreased significantly and alcohol use among 12th graders marks the lowest level of alcohol use since the study’s inception in 1975.

The reauthorization builds upon the success of the original STOP ACT, which Dodd shepherded through Congress in 2006. The bill will continue federal government efforts to combat underage drinking and increase prevention activities in states and local communities, including college campuses. It would also continue public service media campaigns to increase adult awareness of the threat alcohol poses to their children, as well as increase research and data collection done at the federal level on adolescent alcohol use and brain development.

“Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking and underage drinking contributes to the four leading causes of deaths among 15 to 20 year-olds,” said Senator Dodd. “The Stop Act has made great strides to combat underage drinking nationwide but we must continue to build upon these successes to ensure more communities are better equipped to prevent underage drinking. If we can keep one kid from drinking, make one school a better and safer place to learn, help one community break the cycle of dependence, then we are closer to fully addressing the problem. I thank Senators Lautenberg, Casey, and Merkley for championing this important legislation in the next Congress.”

“The STOP Act is helping put the brakes on underage drinking. It is a program that has helped reduce the number of high school students who drink, and it is a program that deserves our continued support,” said Senator Lautenberg, who authored the law that changed the legal drinking age to 21. “Underage drinking is a significant and widespread threat to public health and safety. I will continue fighting to protect teens from the dangers of alcohol and support prevention programs.”

“The success of the original STOP Act speaks for itself,” said Senator Casey. “Our children and teens deserve our continued commitment to the programs in the STOP Act that reduce and prevent underage drinking. Even one death due to underage drinking is too many. I am dedicated to working with my colleagues to pass the reauthorization of the STOP Act. I would like to thank Senator Dodd for his continued efforts on behalf of America’s children and for introducing this critically important legislation.”

“Too many families are torn apart as a result of youth drinking. By partnering with proven community organizations, the federal government can help reduce senseless deaths. The STOP Act has already helped Oregon programs that reduce youth alcohol use. This legislation will make sure the program continues,” said Senator Merkley. “I commend Senator Dodd for his long time leadership and continuing efforts to prevent drug and alcohol abuse.”

Throughout his nearly three decades in the Senate, Dodd has backed federal programs and legislation aimed at preventing alcohol and drug abuse as well as underage drinking. Dodd fought to incorporate substance abuse prevention and treatment into the health care reform bill. He has also introduced several pieces of legislation focused on reducing substance abuse in communities, including the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program in addition to the STOP Act, both of which were signed into law.