It takes a team to curb youth drinking

A new report outlines a number of stronger steps to be taken to reduce alcohol consumption by minors.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Oct. 6, 2003.

Washington -- Efforts to combat the epidemic of underage drinking will require a range of players -- parents, retailers, state and federal lawmakers, alcohol manufacturers and the entertainment industry -- says a new Institute of Medicine and National Research Council report.

"Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility" sets out a strategy that protects the nation's youth while respecting the rights of responsible adult consumers of alcohol, said Richard J. Bonnie, director of the University of Virginia's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, and the chair of the committee that drafted the report.

The report was applauded by the AMA, which has launched its own efforts to control underage drinking.

"I've practiced medicine for more than three decades, and seen firsthand the ravages of alcohol on young people and on their families," said AMA Trustee J. Edward Hill, MD, at a Sept. 10 Capitol Hill news conference.

Underage drinking should be taken as seriously as drug and alcohol abuse, said Dr. Hill, and physicians are in a good position to counsel their young patients on the dangers of alcohol abuse.

"A great time to have a conversation with teens is during a sports physical," he noted. "Every chance to interact with a preteen or teen is an opportunity to build a relationship, to find out about them."

The availability of alcohol and apparent willingness of adults to supply alcohol to teens means that curbing underage drinking will be an uphill battle, but an important one to win, said the new report.