INC NEWS - Drinking Age Debate

Sat Aug 30 17:25:35 EDT 2008

    Bowles: Drinking age should stay at  21   
The Herald-Sun _gronberg at heraldsun.com_ (mailto:gronberg at heraldsun.com)     
Aug 30, 2008

DURHAM -- UNC system President Erskine bowles on  Friday came down firmly 
against lowering the drinking age, telling  chancellors of the system's 17 
campuses there's "convincing evidence that  the age-21 law really does save lives." 
Bowles also told them he's "seen  no scientific evidence that supports the 
contention that lowering the  legal drinking age would reduce binge drinking" or 
other alcohol-related  problems on campus. His comments, issued in a letter to 
the chancellors,  came more than a week after a group of 129 college leaders 
including Duke  University President Richard Brodhead called for debate on 
reconsideration  of the drinking age. 

WANDA  BOONE:

The  Amythest Initiative united heads from around the nation to create a plan 
to  lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. President Brodhead, Duke University 
is  included. 
Alcohol  consumption has a harmful affect on the developing adolescent brain 
(frontal  lobes). Adolescence does not end until age 25.  
http://www.actforyouth.net/documents/may02factsheetadolbraindev.pdf  The frontal lobes  play 
important roles in a variety of higher psychological processes - like  planning, 
decision making, impulse control, language, memory, and others. There  is 
mounting evidence that neuronal circuitry in the frontal lobes is shaped and  fine 
tuned during adolescence, and that experience plays a prominent role in  these 
changes.  
"It  makes so much more sense, because people aren't going to be as rowdy if 
they can  drink like starting when they're 18," Matt Powles says he was 
arrested two years  ago after a friend was stopped for drunk driving and evading 
police, something  Powles says would not have happened if he were legally allowed 
to drink.   
??? 
Approximately  40 percent of college freshmen have self reported binge 
drinking, defined as  four+ drinks per occasion for females and five+ drinks for 
males. A new study  reveals that, among males, 20 percent of all freshmen consume 
10+ drinks, and  eight percent consume 15+ drinks, per occasion. Results  are 
published in the June issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental  Research. 
 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-05/ace-ed051806.php
An estimated 1,700  college students die each year from alcohol-related 
injuries; 600,000 students  are injured while under the influence of alcohol; 
700,000 students are assaulted  by other students who have been drinking; and 
100,000 students are victims of  alcohol-related sexual assaults or date rapes. 
OTHER  STATISTICS 
1 in 10 Americans has a substance use disorder or addiction – an  estimated 
18,600 in Durham County. 
1 in 4 Americans has a primary family  member struggling with addiction. 
In Durham alcohol-related offenses are the  largest cause of prison entries. 
51.2% of HS students consume alcohol 35%  smoke marijuana 
53% of adjudicated youth in Durham are addicted to drugs  
Alcohol and drug abuse costs the American economy in excess of $365 billion  
per year in lost productivity, health cost expenditures and crime. In Durham  
County that is over $350 million costs. 

The most startling statistic  however is that 28% of African American and 32% 
Latino youth surveyed attempted  suicide in the 2 weeks prior to the  survey. 

We must change the  social norm that underage drinking is a Rite of Passage.  

Duke is to be applauded for the steady decrease in the number  of arrest 
violations (533-294) since 2004. These statistics do  not speak to incidents of 
underage party drinking and associated consequences.  Statistics for 2007 have 
not been published. 
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calendars will be updated on 09/01/08 - Happy Labor  Day! 
SEPTEMBER 
COMMUNITY  ENGAGEMENT PROJECT
VIDEO:   _http://www.youtube.com/user/1DurhamEverybodyEats_ 
(http://www.youtube.com/user/1DurhamEverybodyEats)   
_www.onedurhameverybodyeats.org_ (http://www.onedurhameverybodyeats.org/) 
SEPTEMBER 7,  2008 
YOUTH  LEADERSHIP, SERVICE LEARNING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT  RETREATS 
SEPTEMBER  - DECEMBER (SESSION 1) - AGES 14 - 17 
_www.DurhamTRY.org_ (http://www.durhamtry.org/)  
OCTOBER  2008 
Downtown  Durham Rotary Club 
Solutions  to Combat Substance Abuse and Crime in Durham 
_www.DurhamTRY.org_ (http://www.durhamtry.org/)  
Media  Literacy - Helping Youth Decode the Alluring Messages in Advertising 
AND  Understanding the Millennium Generation 
_www.theservantscall.org_ (http://www.theservantscall.org/)  
COMMUNITY  AWARENESS MEETING - A COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PREVENTION FRAMEWORK 
PLAN TO PREVENT  SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN DURHAM 
_www.DurhamTRY.org_ (http://www.durhamtry.org/)  
NOVEMBER  2008 
YOUTH  RETREAT  
_www.DurhamTRY.org_ (http://www.durhamtry.org/)  
NOVEMBER  1, 2008
_www.DurhamTRY.org_ (http://www.durhamtry.org/)   Donate Safely Online! 

Best  Regards,
Wanda
Wanda Boone, CEO Durham  Together for Resilient Youth
Chair Substance Abuse Subcommittee Durham  County
Chair Best Practices Subcommittee Durham County
Chair Faith-Based  Subcommittee Durham County
Member African American Health  Initiative
Member Durham Religious Coalition
2628 Melrose Ave
Durham,  NC 27704
Phone: 919-491-7811  (http://www.durhamtry.org/) www.DurhamTRY.org  
(mailto:DurhamNCTRY at aol.com) DurhamNCTRY at aol.com 

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