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Articles about teen alcohol abuse usually involve young people who have made unhealthy (and illegal) decisions to drink.

But an April 7 report on the website of Illinois newspaper The Coal City Courant featured teens who are working to reduce the likelihood that fellow minors will be able to access alcohol:

Project Sticker Shock, an initiative sponsored by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission (ILCC), seeks to increase public awareness and educate young people, their parents and liquor retailers of the dangers of underage drinking.

As part of the statewide effort, students from Coal City High School's chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) joined the school's police resource officer Skeeter Ehrman and social worker CJ Dziuban in stickering package liquor at seven businesses.

As Kristen Arndt and Shane Webb made their way through each of the stores they affixed bright yellow warning stickers to multi-packs of beer and other packaged goods. The stickers remind buyers that the sale and consumption of liquor to minors is illegal as is the use of fake identification to obtain alcohol.

Labels: alcohol, law

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

In Tennessee, meth lab seizures rose by a shocking 76 percent in 2009. The state's Director for the Meth Task Force, Tommy Farmer, believes the sharp rise in seizures is due to improved investigative methods.

In a March 3 ad on the website of Tennessee newspaper The Tomahawk, freelance Paula Walter reported on other causes -- and likely effects -- of the increase in meth-related arrests:

While many methamphetamine labs are often set up in out-of-the-way, clandestine areas, new ways of producing meth have arisen. The most common is known as "shake and bake." This method has increased in popularity not only in Tennessee, but across the nation.

This methodology is faster than the traditional methods. However, it is extremely dangerous as the chemicals needed for this process are highly volatile, resulting in explosions. Our burn units are bursting at the seams,  said Farmer. At this time, 60 to 70 percent of lab seizures are shake and bake, Farmer added.

Methamphetamine causes devastating effects upon users, their families and communities. Methamphetamine use destroys families and individuals. Communities with meth users often see an increase in burglaries and thefts as users look for ways to obtain money. Children of methamphetamine users often are abused and neglected.

Labels: law, meth

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According to research conducted by the University of Michigan and Stanford University, 18- and 19-year-old drivers who live in a state where the minimum legal drinking age is 21, but live within 25 miles of another state where the drinking age is 18 or 19 are more likely to be involved in a fatal automobile accident.

University of Michigan economist Joel Slemrod, study co-author, commented on the findings: "The availability of different policies just across the border  be they lower excise taxes or the legal sale of fireworks  can compromise the impact of a jurisdiction's own policies and cause efficiency costs as consumers pursue the goods.

"In the case of legalized drinking, being able to drink legally across the border has an additional implication for social costs because the act of drinking and then driving home drunk can itself be dangerous, even fatal, both to the cross-border consumers and other unfortunate drivers and pedestrians."

Slemrod, and Stanford University colleague Michael Lovenheim, studied the effect of states' different minimum drinking ages on alcohol-related traffic deaths since 1977. For the years after 1987, when 21 years of age became the minimum drinking age in all 50 states, they focused on national borders with Canada and Mexico. The researchers found that raising the legal drinking age to 21 has resulted in 5 percent fewer drunk driving fatal automobile accidents for 18-year-olds and 4 percent fewer for 19-year-olds.

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: alcohol, law, underage-drinking

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Most people are aware that alcohol consumption by youth under the age of 21 is prohibited - in public places. But many do not know that it is also illegal for any adult to serve alcohol to a minor (other than his or her own child), even in the adult's own home, even with the minor parent's consent. At least it's illegal according to Ohio state law, and most other states have similar legislation.

Many adults operate under the incorrect assumption that what they do in the privacy of their own homes is their own business. This is a dangerous assumption for all involved. In a recent national survey of parents and teens by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, one in three teens reported being at a party where teens were drinking, smoking pot, or using cocaine, ecstasy, or prescription drugs while a parent was present. Adults who knowingly give alcohol or illegal substances or participate in a party where they know alcohol and/or drugs are being consumed can be criminally prosecuted and also sued if something happens to a minor at the party.

(Source: www.blog.cleveland.com)

Labels: alcohol, law, parents, minors

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments