COLLABORATIONS

Leadership Testifies at Senate Hearings on Underage Drinking

The Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services held hearings on underage drinking on Tuesday, September 30. The hearings were convened by Subcommittee Chairman Senator DeWine (OH) in response to the recently released National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report (see full report on the Leadership's Web site, In the Spotlight section). Senator Dodd (CT) joined Senator DeWine for the hearing. In explaining the reason for the hearing Senator DeWine stated, “We haven't done enough to acknowledge how prevalent and widespread teenage drinking is in this country. We haven't done enough to admit that it is a real problem with very real and very devastating consequences. We haven't done enough to help teach America's children about the dangers of underage drinking. We talk about drugs and the dangers of drug use, as we should, but the reality is that we, as a society, have become complacent about the problem of underage drinking. This has to change. The culture has to change. What we tolerate has to change. What we accept has to change.”

Senator Dodd acknowledged that the NAS recommendations were far reaching and that “our responses must be equally far reaching.” The Senator added that, “While I believe that all of these suggestions have merit, I am most convinced that the effort to prevent underage drinking requires a greatly strengthened Federal commitment as government spending to prevent underage drinking pales in comparison to that devoted to drug and tobacco prevention efforts. In fact, the Federal government spent $1.8 billion to discourage illegal drug use and only $71 million to discourage youth alcohol use in 2000. More must be done.”

First Lady Patricia Kempthorne (ID) testified on behalf of the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. Mrs. Kempthorne thanked the Subcommittee for understanding “the need to address underage drinking in all its complexity, including early onset of alcohol use by the most vulnerable members of our society—children.” Mrs. Kempthorne stated Leadership’s four recommendations (see testimony attached to this e-mail) and added that “The National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine have identified opportunities for all of us to play a role in tackling the problem of underage drinking as we are all stakeholders in the future of our Nation's youth. We need to be motivated by what is in the best interest of our children. Cooperation and coalitions, not confrontations, will move us forward in our common interest of making sure the children of this Nation are healthy.”

As a result of a remarkable confluence of events, members of the Leadership Emeritus Group, and representing the Leadership co-chairs, Columba Bush, First Lady of Florida and a co-chair of the Leadership, and the Chief of Staff for Lori Holden, First Lady of Missouri, were in Washington for a strategy meeting. They attended the hearing and presented Senator DeWine with a letter of support of Mrs. Kempthorne’s statement. This was a powerful testament to the commitment of Leadership’s current spouses and the Emeritus Group to the childhood drinking issue that was not lost on Senators DeWine and Dodd, or the overflow crowd that packed the hearing room. Before the hearing began Senator DeWine invited the former and current first ladies to the front of the hearing room for a photo opportunity with him.

Leadership–Surgeon General Collaboration

On April 28, 2003, the Leadership's four Co-Chairs, Columba Bush (FL), Lori Hauser Holden (MO), Mary Easley (NC), and Hope Taft (OH), and two Emeritus Spouses, Sharon Kitzhaber (OR) and Theresa Racicot (MT), met with the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, to discuss how the Leadership can work with his office to make prevention of childhood drinking a national health priority.  Other meeting attendees were Dr. T.K. Li, Director of NIAAA, Charles Curie, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Administrator, and Dr. Judith Vicary, representing The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Leadership group and the Surgeon General agreed that prevention of childhood drinking is a national priority and should be part of his message to children on the importance of healthy choices.

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tommy Thompson joined the meeting to greet the First Ladies, emphasizing his support for the Leadership initiative. He stated that the Department would gather resources to help the initiative.

Planned collaborations include having Leadership spouses join the Surgeon General on his “50 schools in 50 States” tour—on which he will visit a school in every State during his tenure—to help communicate his message. Other possible collaborations include a joint Public Service Announcement and the release of a Surgeon General's Report on underage drinking. Theresa Racicot, Emeritus Group Co-Chair, will serve as the Leadership's liaison to the Surgeon General's Office.

In mid-July, First Ladies Mrs. Easley (NC) and Janet Huckabee (AR) joined Mrs. Racicot at another meeting with the Surgeon General, to continue discussions about the Surgeon General’s report on underage drinking. Also attending were representatives of NIAAA, SAMHSA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Leadership Commends CAMY

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) Web site featured a letter from the Leadership commending CAMY for its report, State Alcohol Advertising Laws, and for continuing to focus national attention on this critical public health problem. The letter, dated April 10 2003, stated, “Just as CAMY's State Alcohol Advertising Laws report provides a call-to-action for many States, the Leadership believes it offers a call-to-action to all adults who have a direct impact on children. Recent studies have shown that America's children are overexposed to alcohol advertising. It is one of many influences in a child's everyday life that affects behavior—from what they see and hear from adults at home, in school and in their communities, to what they see in the advertising media.” Read the full text of the letter.

Leadership Spouses Named Honorary Chairs for NCADD's Alcohol Awareness Month

In January 2003, the Leadership spouses were invited to act as honorary chairs for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) April celebration of Alcohol Awareness Month. This type of collaboration with other not-for-profit coalition groups is proof of wide-ranging commitment to the issue of preventing childhood drinking. The invitation to the Leadership group is historic in that NCADD usually invites prominent individuals to serve as co-chairs. Past honorary chairs have included Derek Jeter, Daryl Strawberry, Surgeon General David Satcher, and General Barry McCaffrey. The theme for this year is: "Give Children a Chance—End Underage Drinking." Stacia Murphy, President of NCADD, is a member of the Leadership Executive Working Group.

As part of the Leadership’s Alcohol Awareness Month activities, representatives of the Leadership conducted a Radio Media Tour to raise awareness of childhood drinking. Twenty national and local radio interviews reached an audience estimated at nearly 1.6 million!Leading the effort among spouses were Mary Easley (NC) and Frances Owens (CO).NCADD president Stacia Murphy and RWJF Leadership project director Judith Vicary also gave interviews. The interviewees relayed messages about the seriousness of the underage drinking problem in America. Feedback from the radio stations consistently included both interest in the topic and shock at the gravity of the problem. Interviews aired across the country, including on stations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, South Carolina, Missouri, Oregon, and New Mexico, as well as on the Powernomics and Metro radio networks.

MEDIA

“Drinking It in” Video

“Drinking It In,” a five-minute video funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Leadership, depicts how children are surrounded daily by alcohol messages and the many different mediums for these images and the messages they send.

You may view the video by clicking on the links below. You may also order the video from the Leadership publications page, see the link below.