Alcohol Information
ALCOHOL, the NATION’S LARGEST
YOUTH DRUG PROBLEM and THE NEED TO REDUCE UNDERAGE ALCOHOL USE
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN THE COMMUNITIES
Iowans want to change the social trend (norm) and attitudes
about using alcohol. Nationwide, state agencies, community members,
and youth leaders are working to create statewide plans for
reducing underage alcohol use; Iowa is currently working on our
state plan.
Preventing alcohol problems through environmental change begins by
looking at factors in the community that shape alcohol-related
problems and influence individual decisions about drinking.
Environmental prevention is an essential part of a comprehensive
approach to the prevention of alcohol problems, and a proven
strategy for helping youth and adults make healthy choices. To
achieve this outcome, we promote responsible actions by government,
communities and the alcohol industry.
REDUCING EASY ACCESS to alcohol by tagging and registering kegs of
beer, is one of the prevention strategies that can help with
changing the environment of easy access for minors; other
prevention strategies that will be recommended in our state plan.
Over the last few years, community coalition leaders and youth have
come to Iowa’s capitol to stress their belief that legislative
efforts for keg registration will help to lower underage alcohol
use.
Here are some facts about underage
alcohol use.
INDIVIDUAL and COMMUNITY PROBLEMS
Citizens are aware that alcohol abuse can create many community
problems such as:
• Family, School, and Work Problems
• Social and Legal Problems
• Violence and Abuse Problems
• Long-Term Health Problems, alcohol-related birth defects, brain
damaage, and diseases affecting the overall physical, mental, and
emotional health of our citizens.
• Drinking and Driving Crashes and Fatalities
- According to the Iowa Department of
Public Safety, traffic crashes are the number one killer of Iowa’s
children and young adults, and many of these crashes are caused by
alcohol impairment.
- From 2001 to 2004, 439 Iowans died in
crashes because someone was drinking, drunk, or otherwise impaired;
36% of the deaths were youth between the ages of 15 and 4. Nearly
6,200 Iowans were injured in alcohol related crashes. More than 7%
of them were between the ages of 15 and 4
COMMUNITIES UNITING TO PREVENT UNDERAGE ALCOHOL USE BY MINORS
Across the nation, communities have organized members to form
community coalitions. Iowa is moving forward with community
coalitions that have a goal of reducing substance abuse among youth
and, over time, among adults by addressing the factors in a
community that:
• increase the risk of substance abuse and
• promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance
abuse.
By working together with other community coalitions, Iowa has
created an excellent network for communicating a message that
Iowans want to change the social trend (norm) and attitudes about
using alcohol. This message signals parents, educators, community
members, and young people that we value positive youth development
and healthy lifestyles for all.
Alcohol is a drug; it alters mind, body and emotions.
• It is our nation's largest youth drug problem, killing 6.5 times
as many young people as illicit drugs combined. It contributes
substantially to adolescent motor vehicle crashes, other traumatic
injuries, suicide, date rape, and family and school problems.
Underage drinking cost the citizens of Iowa $582 million in
2005
The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness states the
following information for Iowa:
• These costs include medical care, work loss, and pain and
suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the
use of alcohol by youth. Excluding pain and suffering from these
costs, the direct costs of underage drinking incurred through
medical care and loss of work cost Iowa $220 million each year.
• This translates to a cost of $1,960 per year for each youth in
the State.
Whenever a young person drinks, an adult is involved in some
way.
• Whether it is a retailer, parent, older sibling, or friend, it is
time we hold adults accountable for underage drinking.
• Underage drinking is an adult problem, as well as a youth
problem.
• Underage alcohol use means large profits for the Alcohol
industry--Alcohol industry income from underage drinkers is
estimated at $22 billion a year, most of it from beer.
•Children
who are drinking alcohol are more likely to report academic
problems, substance use, and delinquent behavior in both middle
school and high school.
• More than 40 percent of individuals who begin drinking before age
13, or by 7th grade, develop addiction or alcohol dependency, or
other problems associated with alcohol use at some point in their
lives.
• Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more
likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at
21.
• By young adulthood, early alcohol use was associated with
employment problems, other substance abuse, and criminal and other
violent behavior.
IOWA INFORMATION – IOWA YOUTH SURVEY
UNDERAGE ALCOHOL
The Iowa Youth Survey is a voluntary survey given to 6th, 8th, and
11th graders on a three-year cycle, most recently in the fall of
2008. The IYS is the most comprehensive data source for those
interested in understanding youth alcohol use in the state of Iowa.
It contains questions about students’ environment and conditions,
behavior, knowledge and awareness, and perceptions and attitudes
around substance use, safety and violence, and relationships with
others.
Iowa’s Citizens Are Surprised to hear:
1. Age when Iowa youth reported they had that first drink
2. Number of youth reporting that they have driven a car or other
motor vehicle after using alcohol and the
3. Number of youth reporting that they have had 5 or more drinks of
alcohol (glasses, bottles or cans of beer; glasses of wine, liquor,
mixed drinks) in a row within a couple of hours.
Iowa’s Citizens are not as surprised to hear that local youth had
at least one drink of alcohol (glass, bottle or can of beer; glass
of wine, liquor or mixed drink). It is often considered a “rite of
passage.
