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.