What should alcohol policy for youth be in the U.S.? This is a heated subject. Here the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) gives its views. I. Alcohol Policy for Youth NYRA believes U.S. youth alcohol policy should recognize the inevitability of alcohol consumption among youth. Therefore, it should seek to reduce the harm of that alcohol use. …
Many U.S. states prohibit alcohol education by parents. Historically, this is a radical change I. Tradition Both common law and societal tradition give parents very wide latitude in raising their children. Parents can raise their children in whatever religion they wish. Or they can raise them as atheists or agnostics. Parents can teach them whatever …
A common way of trying to discourage alcohol drinking among college students is to emphasize the calories in alcoholic beverages. However, this may have dangerous outcomes. I. The Study A study of 4,271 undergraduate college students from ten universities participated in the study. Thirty-nine percent of the students had consumed alcohol within the previous 30 …
The Maryland Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition summarizes the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. It does so as follows. “The legal age for alcohol in the USA is 21 years old. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to …
This is a staff editorial from the Daily Barometer, Oregon State University’s award-winning student newspaper. It argues that underage drinking is not a problem. Underage drinking is not a problem. The problematic situation is over-consumption. This is a result of our society’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Overconsumption is everywhere in today’s America. Drinking is but …
Public policy in the U.S. calls for complete alcohol abstinence by all people under age 21. However, it’s highly unsuccessful. Indeed, the policy has actually been counterproductive. That is, causing more problems than it prevents. We absolutely must replace failed programs with effective alcohol education. Alcohol education programs are virtually mandated by law to present …
There will never be enough enforcement agents to prevent underage alcohol purchases. So says an official of the NC Alcohol Law Enforcement agency. The problem can never be solved by hiring ever more agents. But we must have ways of preventing underage alcohol purchases. Fortunately, Alaska has thought creatively and uses an economic incentive to …
Journalist Jeff Frantz reports that Europeans learn responsible drinking. Thus young Europeans are more responsible about drinking than those in the U.S. Here’s his piece. The 21st-birthday bar tour — it’s a staple of American life. You blow out the candles, go to a bar, drink, vomit, pass out. You laugh the next day when …
Compliance checks or stings for underage alcohol sales are very popular. However, to be legal, they must be done without entrapment. Basically, entrapment is inducing people to commit a crime they are not “predisposed” to commit and would not ordinarily commit. The Department of Justice stresses that “Entrapment is a complete defense to a criminal charge.”1 …
Here is a list of what appear to be grassroots organizations against underage drinking. In reality, all of these groups were organized and supported by the temperance-oriented Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They’re part of its nation-wide program to influence alcohol policy at both the state and federal levels. Pennsylvanians Against Underage Drinking. Texans Standing Tall …
