April 21st or any 21st!

We had a great kick off to our first annual PowerTalk 21 day last Thursday! But if you missed that day, I want you to know that any day--the 21st of May for instance--is a great day to start the conversation with your teen.

Research shows that the earlier one starts drinking alcohol, the more likely they are to become alcohol dependent and drive drunk. That alone should be reason enough to make sure we do our best to keep our teens alcohol free.

So, if you missed PowerTalk 21 don't worry. Go to www.madd.org/powerofparents and request your free Parent Handbook or better yet, find a FREE 30 minute workshop in your area and check it out in person. You'll get a great overview of the research that went into this program as well as a walk through of the Parent Handbook.

A big shout out to Nationwide Insurance, our Presenting Sponsor, who really is "on our side"! We couldn't do these free programs without their support.

Spring Break

So, I went online to see what was being said about spring break and drinking and ran across this blog post that I could relate to, except the age of the writer.

With three little ones myself, the messages in the media including TV and film tread lightly usually on underage drinking. If we all grow up with TV and movies how much of our subconscious takes in the messages? It seems drinking underage is part of college, part of high school parties, part of media and unless teens have strong, positive self esteem and role models, they may be persuaded to "fit in."

Now, down the road, after the teen enjoys spring break too much, and somehow consistently drinks and graduates high school or college and the real world settles in, what happens? Many are then addicted to alcohol in some degree and may have additional troubles including drunk driving, holding down a job or staying healthy.

A little underage drinking is too much. Once our society and all adults in it believe this too, spring break might just go back to beach blanket bingo and Frankie and Annette days--Not!

Drinking age debate on tap again in Vermont

Vermont lawmakers are considering a pair of bills - one to push the drinking age to 18, the other to ask the state's congressional delegation to urge Congress to authorize waivers to states and not punish them by withholding funding.

Is 18 old enough to drink?

The issue is a key part of a national discussion on whether the minimum drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 years old. Organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) say absolutely not.

Colleges and Binge Drinking

An editorial in The New York Times dismisses the call by some college professors to lower the drinking age as “on the wrong track with its suggestion that the nation reconsider the legal drinking age of 21.”

MADD, along with leading health and safety experts, agree that the 21 minimum legal drinking age save lives – nearly 25,000 since the law went into effect in 1984.

MADD acknowledges that underage drinking and binge drinking on college campuses is a serious problem, but lowering the drinking age is not the answer. Solutions to the problem can include:

• Changing the drinking culture on college campuses and within communities
• Enforcement of the 21 drinking age law-Upholding responsible alcohol policies
• Holding those over 21 accountable for providing alcohol to minors
• Working with high school and middle school parents and leaders to reach their youth well before college on the drinking age so this problem is corrected early versus once students are in college

Learn more about underage drinking.

The 21 Law Saves Lives: University Presidents Misguided in Signing Amethyst Initiative to Discuss Lowering the Drinking Age

An estimated 25,000 lives have been saved by the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age, which is why it is so troubling that more than 100 college and university presidents have signed on to a misguided initiative that uses deliberately misleading information to confuse the public on the effectiveness of the 21 law.

MADD, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the American Medical Association (AMA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Governors Highway Safety Association and other science, medical and public health organizations call on these college and university presidents to remove their names from this list and urge them to work with the public health community and law enforcement on real solutions to underage and binge drinking. Additionally, MADD asks the public to write letters to the college presidents on this list asking them to remove their names and to support the 21 minimum legal drinking age.

London Suburb Proposes Voluntary Ban to Stop Selling Alcohol to Those Under 21

Young adults under 21 in the London Borough of Croydon could be banned from buying alcohol in shops in an attempt to reduce binge drinking and underage drinking. Read the complete story in the Daily Mail.

Learn more about the lifesaving 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age in the United States at Why21.org.

21 Drinking Age Saves Nearly 1,000 Lives a Year – and Turns Another Year Older

An estimated 25,000 people are alive today because of the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA). Since its passage 24 years ago today, there have been significant declines in deaths on the roads and off the roads. In 2006, an estimated 890 lives were saved by minimum drinking age laws.

Learn more about the 21 MLDA on MADD.org and sign our pledge in support of the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age.

Study: Minimum Drinking Age of 21 Saves Lives

The number of U.S. teenagers involved in fatal drunk-driving accidents has declined because of laws that raised the legal drinking age to 21, according to a new study.

Researchers found that two "core" drinking-age laws passed in all U.S. states in the 1980s were responsible for an 11 percent decrease in the number of drunk teenage drivers involved in fatal crashes. The two laws made it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to buy or possess alcohol. Read the complete story from Yahoo! News.

Visit Why21.org to arm yourself with more facts about the 21 minimum drinking age. Sign the petition in support of the 21 drinking age.

40 Percent of Underage Drinkers Get Free Alcohol from Adults Over 21

A nationwide report from SAMHSA reveals that 650,000 underage drinkers in the past month were given alcohol by their parents or guardians.

Underage drinking is not just a youth problem but an adult problem. MADD believes adults should be held accountable for providing alcohol to those under 21 for the very reasons mentioned in this report. Read MADD's statement on the report and on underage drinking.

Sign the pledge to show your support for the 21 minimum drinking age law.

Underage Drinking Crash Devastates Community

Underage drinking led a teenager to plow his Jeep Wrangler full of five teenagers into a tree during the 2005 Labor Day Weekend, instantly killing two 16-year-olds seated in the back seat.

One of the teenagers killed was Zachary Ondrish, who had just begun his junior year at Westminster High School the previous week. He was a wrestler on the school’s team and the second oldest of seven children. Loved by young and old alike, kids still gather and leave things for Zach at the crash site on his birthday and the anniversary of the crash.

Read Zach's story.

Fort Bliss Raises Its Drinking Age to 21

Citing too many drunken-driving crashes and arrests and too many fights, the new commanding general has raised the drinking age on the West Texas Army base from 18 to 21, bringing 17,000-soldier Fort Bliss into line with what has been the minimum drinking age law in the rest of Texas since 1986.

Read the complete story from Yahoo! News.

12-Year-Old Arkansas Boy Faces Drunken-Driving Charge

An Arkansas preteen faces a drunken-driving charge after he and a friend drank his parents' beer and crashed his stepfather's pickup truck. The county prosecutor said that he will charge the 12-year-old boy with drunken driving and several other misdemeanor charges.

Read the complete story from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.