News
ENLARGE
April brings many things. In Oregon it is often rain, but with the rain comes new life and growth. Everywhere you look, daffodils and tulips are blossoming and one only has to take a short jaunt out of the city to experience the wildflowers popping up on scenic trails and hillsides.
You also don't have to look too far to see the alcohol advertising our youth are exposed to — not just in April, but year-round. According to researchers from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, 2,033,931 alcohol product advertisements aired on television between 2001 and 2007, at a cost of $6.6 billion. Key findings of the research include:
• From 2001 to 2007, the number of alcohol advertisements seen in a year by the average television-watching 12-to-20-year-old increased from 216 to 301.
• In 2007, approximately one out of every five alcohol advertisements was placed on programming that youth ages 12 to 20 were more likely per capita to see than adults of the legal drinking age.
Television is just one means of media exposure. In addition to television, marketing of alcohol is in movies, on the Internet, billboards and magazines. Research indicates that youth exposure to alcohol advertising increases the likelihood that they will drink, drink more often and drink to excess.
Other factors that influence underage alcohol use include accessibility to alcohol, perceived risk of harm and parents' disapproval of drinking.
April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Umpqua Partners For a Drug-Free Future joins the nation in observing the effort to prevent and reduce underage drinking and to help protect our most precious resource — our kids.
Why is Umpqua Partners so concerned about underage drinking?
• Alcohol is the leading drug problem among young people, and underage drinking is responsible for approximately 5,000 deaths per year among persons under age 21.
• Alcohol is damaging to the adolescent brain. The legal drinking age of 21 is not just an arbitrary number. In fact, during the developmental years of life (up to about age 23), the human brain is as much as five times more vulnerable to the disease of addiction.
• Underage alcohol use can increase the risk of being involved in assault (both physical and sexual) and can lead to other risky sexual behavior.
• Poor academic performance, illicit drug use, tobacco use and other poor behavior choices are linked to underage alcohol use.
In Douglas County, the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey data from 2006 to 2008 is encouraging: The percentage of 8th-grade youth who reported not using alcohol increased from 64 percent in 2006 to 66 percent in 2008 and the percentage of 11th-grade youth who reported not using alcohol increased from 50 percent in 2006 to 52 percent in 2008.
Parents matter. When asked, most kids state their parents as the number one reason they do not use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The survey data indicates 76.2 percent of 11th-graders feel their parents would disapprove of them drinking alcohol as compared with 61 percent reporting parent disapproval in 2006.
Although parents are a powerful influence, every adult in every community has the power to influence our kids in making a positive choice to not drink alcohol. It is estimated that alcohol companies have over 340,000 conversations with our kids every year. Parents can't be expected to keep up. They need our help. The problems of underage alcohol use affects everyone and it is a shared responsibility to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
The National Association of County & City Health Officials provides a meaningful and practical way of considering community collaboration: Economic writer Jared Bernstein coined the term YOYO (You're On Your Own) to describe societies that leave citizens to fend for themselves to gain resources, opportunities, and consequently health. A better alternative, he suggests, are WITT (We're In This Together) societies that invest in the common good and take a shared approach to solving problems.
It is my vision and the vision of Umpqua Partners to build Douglas County into a WITT society — one that will come together to promote healthy lifestyles and drug-free environments in Douglas County.
Sheriff John Hanlin will join the youth of Douglas County and Umpqua Partners at this year's 7th Annual Truth, Lies & Videotapes at 6 p.m. Friday at Jacoby Auditorium on Umpqua Community College's campus to provide closing remarks and a call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
Each year the theme of Truth, Lies & Videotapes is determined by youth. This year's theme is Everybody Doesn't! Please join Sheriff Hanlin and me in celebrating our youth on Friday. Together we can change attitudes about underage drinking. Together we save a life and build a brighter future for the youth of Douglas County.
Patti LaFreniere of Roseburg is the executive director for Umpqua Partners For a Drug-Free Future. For more information call (541) 672-5905 or visit www.updrugfree.org.
You also don't have to look too far to see the alcohol advertising our youth are exposed to — not just in April, but year-round. According to researchers from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, 2,033,931 alcohol product advertisements aired on television between 2001 and 2007, at a cost of $6.6 billion. Key findings of the research include:
• From 2001 to 2007, the number of alcohol advertisements seen in a year by the average television-watching 12-to-20-year-old increased from 216 to 301.
• In 2007, approximately one out of every five alcohol advertisements was placed on programming that youth ages 12 to 20 were more likely per capita to see than adults of the legal drinking age.
Television is just one means of media exposure. In addition to television, marketing of alcohol is in movies, on the Internet, billboards and magazines. Research indicates that youth exposure to alcohol advertising increases the likelihood that they will drink, drink more often and drink to excess.
Other factors that influence underage alcohol use include accessibility to alcohol, perceived risk of harm and parents' disapproval of drinking.
April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Umpqua Partners For a Drug-Free Future joins the nation in observing the effort to prevent and reduce underage drinking and to help protect our most precious resource — our kids.
Why is Umpqua Partners so concerned about underage drinking?
• Alcohol is the leading drug problem among young people, and underage drinking is responsible for approximately 5,000 deaths per year among persons under age 21.
• Alcohol is damaging to the adolescent brain. The legal drinking age of 21 is not just an arbitrary number. In fact, during the developmental years of life (up to about age 23), the human brain is as much as five times more vulnerable to the disease of addiction.
• Underage alcohol use can increase the risk of being involved in assault (both physical and sexual) and can lead to other risky sexual behavior.
• Poor academic performance, illicit drug use, tobacco use and other poor behavior choices are linked to underage alcohol use.
In Douglas County, the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey data from 2006 to 2008 is encouraging: The percentage of 8th-grade youth who reported not using alcohol increased from 64 percent in 2006 to 66 percent in 2008 and the percentage of 11th-grade youth who reported not using alcohol increased from 50 percent in 2006 to 52 percent in 2008.
Parents matter. When asked, most kids state their parents as the number one reason they do not use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The survey data indicates 76.2 percent of 11th-graders feel their parents would disapprove of them drinking alcohol as compared with 61 percent reporting parent disapproval in 2006.
Although parents are a powerful influence, every adult in every community has the power to influence our kids in making a positive choice to not drink alcohol. It is estimated that alcohol companies have over 340,000 conversations with our kids every year. Parents can't be expected to keep up. They need our help. The problems of underage alcohol use affects everyone and it is a shared responsibility to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
The National Association of County & City Health Officials provides a meaningful and practical way of considering community collaboration: Economic writer Jared Bernstein coined the term YOYO (You're On Your Own) to describe societies that leave citizens to fend for themselves to gain resources, opportunities, and consequently health. A better alternative, he suggests, are WITT (We're In This Together) societies that invest in the common good and take a shared approach to solving problems.
It is my vision and the vision of Umpqua Partners to build Douglas County into a WITT society — one that will come together to promote healthy lifestyles and drug-free environments in Douglas County.
Sheriff John Hanlin will join the youth of Douglas County and Umpqua Partners at this year's 7th Annual Truth, Lies & Videotapes at 6 p.m. Friday at Jacoby Auditorium on Umpqua Community College's campus to provide closing remarks and a call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking.
Each year the theme of Truth, Lies & Videotapes is determined by youth. This year's theme is Everybody Doesn't! Please join Sheriff Hanlin and me in celebrating our youth on Friday. Together we can change attitudes about underage drinking. Together we save a life and build a brighter future for the youth of Douglas County.
Patti LaFreniere of Roseburg is the executive director for Umpqua Partners For a Drug-Free Future. For more information call (541) 672-5905 or visit www.updrugfree.org.
