LEGAL PURCHASE AGE NCA deplores the carnage on the nation's highways due to teenage drinking and driving. Alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among young people. Because as a group, 18-20 year olds are inordinately represented in alcohol-related accidents and because research now indicates that raising the minimum drinking age significantly reduces alcohol-related crash involvement among young drivers, the National Council on Alcoholism urges Congress to adopt a national legal age of 21 for the purchase of alcoholic beverages. LABELLING Because of the overwhelming evidence that the consumption of alcohol can lead to serious health problems, including alcoholism, birth defects, and cancer, and because it believes in the public's right to know, the National Council on Alcoholism supports requiring specific health and safety warning labels as well as information on ingredients, calories and alcohol content by volume on alcoholic beverage containers. Specific warnings on alcoholic beverage containers should be part of a rotating series of notices and address such areas as: alcoholism, the illegality of driving under the influence of alcohol, cirrhosis, cancer, FAS, and alcohol and drug interactions. Mr. LUBINSKI. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for your leadership on this important issue and for affording the National Council on Alcoholism the opportunity to testify today. Mr. FLORIO. Thank you very much. We appreciate the testimony of both witnesses. Is it fair to say, and it is very obvious from testimony, that you disagree with the testimony we will hear later in the day from the National Licensed Beverage Association, which has put into question the validity of one of the basic assumptions of this legislation, that an increase in the drinking age produces no change in fatal crashes. That is one of the basic points apparently that will be offered. Is it fair to say you disagree with that? Mr. HURLEY. The National Safety Council would strongly disagree with that point. The preponderance of the evidence is clear and compelling that raising the drinking age to 21 will save lives. Ms. LUBINSKI. The NCA agrees with that. Mr. FLORIO. There also is a representation in the testimony to be offered later in the day that drinking age laws do not reduce-that is, increasing the drinking age does not reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages. I assume, and we will get clarification on this, I assume what that is implying is that if one prohibits the legal sale of alcoholic beverages by increasing the drinking age, that we can expect that drinking will take place with the same amount of frequency, but it will just be illegal, and therefore it is, I assume, the implication is that it is sort of moot, a moot gesture on our part to increase the drinking age, because the same amount of alcohol will be consumed, and we will still have the problem of drunken driving involving young people. Can you give us your thoughts on that assumption? Mr. HURLEY. Well, I do not think it is reasonable to expect that raising the drinking age to 21 will magically eliminate drinking by people under 21. It does seem to affect their patterns of driving, that is, driving to a place to drink and driving home, often impaired, and with tragic results. Twenty-one is not a magic solution. It is a key part of the comprehensive solution to drunk driving and to alcohol abuse in society. Mr. FLORIO. And I assume the statistical evidence to this point is, where there has been an increase in the driving age, there has been a falloff in use, at least as reflected in the driving records; and although it may very well be that there is no reduction in use, then perhaps people are not driving as much when they use? Ms. LUBINSKI. That is right. There are also several studies, Mr. Chairman, that suggest that underaged drinkers do respect purchase laws when they are required, a significant majority of young people. I mean, there certainly will be illegal purchase and consumption. There is no question about it. However, the majority of young people seem to respect drinking laws. Mr. FLORIO. Again, that may very well be reflected in the Gallup poll I made reference to as well. I think Mr. Richardson was probably not here when I made reference to it. The vast majority of young people polled by this national survey in fact supported the idea of increased drinking age laws because they appreciated the fact that it was something that was in the national interest. I think you could logically conclude from that that if they did respect the idea that it was desirable to do, the majority are going to, as you say, respect the validity of the law. Even though they may be inclined to want to drink, if the law were changed, they would not violate the law. That is, I think, responsive to the point that has been raised. The last point I would like to ask your thoughts on, again making reference to the prepared testimony which is to be delivered in a few moments from the National Licensed Beverage Association argues that raising the drinking age encourages drinking in unsupervised areas. Implicit in that, I think, is that somehow the tavern or the establishment where the sale is consummated functions as a supervisory atmosphere, and that if you take the young person under 21 out of that supervised area, they will somehow be less responsible. It is sort of an interesting argument, and I just wondered what your thoughts are with regard to the supervision that takes place in commercial establishments to care for the young people under age who may have had too much alcohol. Ms. LUBINSKI. Well, I would argue that whether or not an individual is drinking in a bar, in a so-called supervised setting, is not going to influence one way or the other his or her ability to get in his or her car and drive home. Second, one of the reasons why we have adopted a position that discourages teenagers from alcohol use is that the majority of teenage drinking, regardless of the drinking age, is done in nonsupervised and clandestine settings. So, I do not know if too many studies have been done about the influence of the drinking age on that fact, but that happens to be the fact of the matter right now. A good deal of drinking is done in cars, is done at parties, whether you are talking about an 18- or a 21-year-old drinking age. Mr. FLORIO. Let me hasten to add, and I think this is important to add, that we should not attempt to portray all of those who commercially sell alcohol as automatically on the one side of the issue. I have been in contact with people in my own State, and I suspect this prevails across the Nation, there are those who in a sense welcomed the change that took place in some of the States increasing the drinking age to 21, feeling that those who were drinking under 21 were probably more trouble than they were worth in terms of the commercial benefit that they came back and that this relieved some of the tavern owners and some of the package store people of the responsibilities that they felt they had prior to the age being lifted. So, we should not attempt to say that there is monolithic opposition to this legislation on the part of those who commercially sell or distribute alcohol, because it is not monolithic. Mr. HURLEY. As a matter of fact, Mr. Chairman, I know of one instance of a major chain of restaurant bars where they have raised the drinking age during certain hours to 21 nationally, regardless of State law. Mr. FLORIO. Mr. Lent. Mr. LENT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hurley, I asked Mrs. Lightner some of these same questions, but perhaps you would have something more to add to her responses. I asked whether in your view the most important feature of this bill, H.R. 3870, is the uniformity that it would establish or Today's environment is permeated by over a billion dollars of advertising which either directly or indirectly encourages the consumption of alcoholic beverages and has promoted positive messages about alcoh、 use in the arts, the media and society as a whole. Drinking is associated with the 'good life', with health, with success, and with sexuality. In addition, this has been matched by a general trend of relaxation of controls on availability and price of alcoholic beverages which has, in turn, been followed by steady and frightening increases in alcohol-related problems, especially among young people and in the workplace throughout the country. Alcohol problems are so widespread that they cannot be effectively approached except through broad, general prevention measures. Problems of this magnitude affect not just particular groups of Americans, but affect nearly every American. The National Council on Alcoholism can be a vital public force in the coming decade by providing information to counter the growing public perception that drinking alcohol is a healthy and even safe thing to do. To do this, NCA must add to its existing priorities for research, public policy, treatment and education, bold new stances to the prevention of alcohol problems. The following position statements on alcohol advertising, taxation, labelling, and legal purchase age are such bold policies. These actions, in combination with education and information programs, can begin to make inroads in the enormous alcohol problem facing our country today. Singly, none of these actions would be as effective as if they are implemented together as a unified prevention strategy. Working in unison, they are an effective prevention tool to combat the rise in alcohol-related problems and alcoholism we have experienced in recent years. ADVERTISING NCA is concerned over recent linkages between alcoholic beverage advertising and the reported increase in alcohol consumption among young people. Alcohol consumption is associated with a range of health and societal problems including alcoholism, cancer, heart and liver disease, family violence, career dissolution, economic loss due to job absence and sickness, crime and accidents. For young people, it is especially associated with alcohol-related highway fatalities, and school, familial and developmental disruption. Because young people are a major audience, NCA believes the alcoholic beverage industry should voluntarily discontinue advertising their products on television and radio. As an intermediate step, NCA supports: A. The voluntary elimination of misleading and inappropriate advertising in the T.V., radio and print media, and the stricter enforcement of false advertising laws. In particular, we refer to: 1. The use of young people (and young looking 2. The use of current or former athletes in 3. The use of people engaging in sports activities 4. The use of advertising suggesting sexual, business or social success accrues to alcoholic beverage consumers. |