Pubdate: Tue, 26 Feb 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Janelle Carter

GROUP: TEENS ADMIT TO BINGE DRINKING

WASHINGTON - Nearly a third of high school students say they binge drink at 
least once a month, according to a new report by an advocacy group. The 
government estimates underage drinkers account for 11.4 percent of all 
alcohol consumed in the United States.

"Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in America," said 
Joseph Califano Jr., president of the National Center on Addiction and 
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, which issued the report Tuesday.

The report, which analyzes two years' research, "is a clarion call for 
national mobilization to curb underage drinking," said Califano, a former 
U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare.

Califano's group also asserted that young people between the ages of 12 and 
20 accounted for 25 percent of all alcoholic beverages consumed in the 
United States.

That contention prompted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration, the government agency that conducted the 1998 survey cited 
by Califano's group, to issue a statement saying underage drinkers account 
for 11.4 percent of U.S. alcohol consumption.

"Regardless of any discrepancies ..., any alcohol use before age 21 is 
unacceptable and against the law," said the agency, an arm of the 
Department of Health and Human Services.

Citing the government figures, the alcoholic beverage industry accused 
Califano's group of falsifying its numbers.

"It looks like Mr. Califano and CASA have adopted Enron's accounting 
practices," said Phil Lynch, a spokesman for Brown-Forman Corp., whose 
products include Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey.

Frank Coleman, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United 
States, called Califano "a serial abuser of statistics for sensational 
purposes."

Both the government and CASA percentages were based on a 1998 National 
Household Survey on Drug Abuse in which 25,500 people, including 9,759 
between the ages of 12 and 20 were questioned in their homes.

While the 12-20 age group represented 38 percent of those surveyed, they 
account for about only 13 percent of the total U.S. population, according 
to 2000 Census Bureau figures. The government says it weighted its survey 
results to account for the age discrepancy between its survey sample and 
the total population.

Califano, in an interview Tuesday, defended his group's decision not to 
make that adjustment.

"The household survey is taken by going into a home and asking parents if 
you can talk to their children. If parents are in the living room and you 
(the surveyor and the teen) are in the kitchen, the odds of getting a 
really solid answer are slim. So there's a tremendous underestimate in 
reporting," Califano said.

Some of the CASA report's findings:

Eighty-seven percent of adults who drink had their first drink before age 21.

The gender gap for drinking is disappearing. Female ninth-graders were just 
as likely to be drinkers as male ninth-graders.

Eighty-one percent of high school students have consumed alcohol, compared 
with 70 percent who have smoked cigarettes and 47 percent who have used 
marijuana.

Most teens who experiment with alcohol continue using it. Among high school 
seniors who had tried alcohol, 91.3 percent still were drinking in the 12th 
grade.

The percentage of teens who drink in binges - 31 percent among high school 
students - was obtained by using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, published in 2000.

Binge drinking often is described as four consecutive drinks for a woman or 
five drinks for a man. According to an American Medical Association survey 
last year, binge drinking is among parents' top worries. Around 44 percent 
of college students admit to binge drinking, and nearly a fourth of those 
binge frequently.

On the Net: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse: 
http://www.casacolumbia.org

Distilled Spirits Council: http://www.discus.health.org/

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: 
http://www.samhsa.gov
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth