Thanks for following responsibility in the news with us this week. Here’s a top to bottom review of the articles we’ve looked at since Monday.
Harvard and U. South Carolina assess campus alcohol cultures
Minnesota seeks to loosen liquor laws, slightly
And if you’re celebrating a holiday this weekend, we at [CR] wish you a safe one.
We hope all of our readers were left unaffected by the tornadoes that moved through the Southeast yesterday. [CR] sends our thoughts to those who were put in harms way.
As you settle in and enjoy your weekend, be sure to check out these articles pertaining to college drinking.
Colleges are working to curtail binge drinking during spring break, which is often a week where heavy drinking is prevalent. Santa Fe College will host a pre-spring break event to address safe behavior. Read about it here.
Energy drinks and alcohol are popular among college students because of the quick buzz they offer. However, the drinks can be toxic, as reported here.
And finally, Indiana college students help push a Good Samaritan bill through the Indiana state legislature. The bill enables people to call for help in a situation where alcohol is involved (or someone is intoxicated) without the facing criminal charges. Several other states have passed similar bills, which encourage students to make alcohol harm reduction their first priority. Read the full article here.
Have a great rest of your weekend, and stay safe!
The Manitoba government needs to have independent experts from outside the province examine the decisions made during this year’s flood, and it needs to do so right away, Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard said Wednesday.
Manitoba stories
Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says there are no plans to close some of Manitoba’s smaller border crossings.
oews says the move is not a done deal.
Manitoba stories
A Manitoba pathologist has come under scrutiny after discrepancies were found in some of his case work.
Manitoba stories
Underage drinking on college campuses in North Carolina and every other state in the union is an issue for the colleges, students and law enforcement. States, including North Carolina, have laws controlling alcohol possession and consumption by minors. Colleges often have their own drug and alcohol policies to control substance use on campus.
In 2008, a federal district court struck down a Virginia law that bans alcohol related advertising in college newspapers throughout that state. The trial judge found the state provided no evidence that the advertising ban served to reduce underage drinking.
The judge further found that the state had legitimate alternative methods to curtail underage drinking. The 4th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also includes North Carolina, concluded differently.
The appellate court found a “common sense” link exists between alcohol advertising and consumption. The court said that even in the absence of evidence to support the assumption that a ban on alcohol advertising in college newspapers would reduce underage consumption on campus; the law utilizes common sense and therefore does not unconstitutionally infringe freedom of the press.
The matter was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On Monday the high court refused to review the appellate decision, the 4th circuit decision remains the law. While the decision focuses on a law imposed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Virginia, similar restrictions can be imposed in any jurisdiction covered by the 4th circuit ruling.
Underage drinking and possession laws are not influenced by the decision. In North Carolina, a conviction for underage alcohol related crimes are entered on an individual’s record.
Source: Augusta Free Press, “Supreme Court declines to intervene in college free-press case,” 30 Nov 2010
Social host laws are becoming more popular as legislators search for ways to cut down on underage drinking, and this week, California took a step toward instituting a statewide social host law of its own. On Monday, the California Assembly voted 67-1 to send bill AB 2486, which imposes liability on adults who knowingly serve alcohol to underage drinkers, to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Leave your feedback on social host laws in the comments, and then check out the rest of these recent headlines.
Stories this week:
In case you missed it: Tom Keane made the provocative case for changing alcohol regulations, including the drinking age, in his Sunday essay for the Boston Globe magazine.
Charles Couger’s op-ed in the Lansing State Journal explores the unintended consequences of alcohol prohibition aimed at 18-20 year-olds, which he says lead to dangerous situations for underage drinkers who attempt to evade law enforcement.
Eric Hafner of Red Bank, NJ believes that New Jersey should extend alcohol purchase and consumption privileges to 18-20 year-olds who are non-drivers. What do you think?
In other news…
Rheyanne Weaver, an EmpowHER contributor, compiled a guide for female college students and their parents called “Alcohol Safety for Women in College.” Check it out for up-to-date statistics on binge drinking by female college students and descriptions of some collegiate alcohol education programs.
In Ontario Canada, where the drinking age is 19, local officials have instituted a new policy that intends to cut down on drunk driving by younger drivers. From now on, drivers under the age of 22 with “any measurable blood alcohol concentration above zero will be breaking the law and will have their licenses immediately suspended at the roadside for 24 hours. A 0 fine also will be imposed, under the new provisions, and drivers will be subject to a further license suspension of 30 days, if convicted in court.”
Send us a tip in the comments if we missed something with this week’s news round-up.
In case you missed it earlier this week, check out Mark Kleiman’s commentary and follow-up post about alcohol policy reform posted at The Atlantic. Some of his ideas about the drinking age are provocative, and we’d like to hear what you think in the comments. Once you’ve weighed in, check out the rest of these headlines.
Stories this week
As September approaches, many colleges and universities are making changes to their on-campus alcohol policies to try and stop the flood of early-semester binge drinking by incoming students before it begins: the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Winston-Salem Journal reported on changes to parental notification policy for alcohol violations at James Madison University and Wake Forest University, and the Des Moines Register outlined changes to tailgating rules at the University of Iowa. Meanwhile, Colby College announced that it will ban all liquor from campus dorms and parties.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed bill AB2486 into law this week. The new law will create civil liability for adults 21 and older who provide alcohol to underage drinkers killed or injured as a result of intoxication. Previous California law “protected adults 21 and up from civil suit if they knowingly provided alcohol that resulted in the injury or death of a young person.”
Speaking of social host legislation, Stephanie Raposo of The Patriot-News crafted a guide for parents that spells out the laws against serving underage drinkers in Pennsylvania. Does her portrait of a typical underage drinking party sound familiar? “Teens jumping out of windows, climbing over fences and running as fast as they can in a panic…”
In other news…
At Health.com, Amanda Gardner outlined a new study that explores the increased risk of stroke and heart attack for older binge drinkers who have high blood pressure.
Police officials and school administrators are gearing up for what some are calling the “first true test” of Iowa City’s recently-passed 21-only bar ordinance – the first weekend students have returned to campus.
The [CR] Week in Review is back this week – we have some events coming up on the calendar in early October, but we still have room in September if you’re organizing back-to-school alcohol awareness events. E-mail us if you’d like to bring a Choose Responsibility representative to your campus, and then check out the week’s headlines.
Stories this week:
Iowa City officials are watching the fallout from the new 21-only bar ordinance closely, and here are some of the early returns: last weekend, police citations for disorderly house reached double digits between Saturday morning and Sunday evening, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.
Speaking of Iowa City, Zach Wahls, a University of Iowa student, penned a passionate op-ed about the drinking age in the Daily Iowan. Here’s a sample: “we want to be treated like what we think we are and what the law tells us we are — responsible adults.”
More evidence from Annapolis, MD, that off-campus drinking is a source of headaches for university administrators and law enforcement: Frostburg State officials are enlisting landlords and real estate agents in the battle against toxic drinking, asking them to pass out brochures and literature to new tenants.
In other news…
The editors of the Gainesville Sun applauded the town-gown cooperation efforts between University of Florida administrators and local law enforcement, which have cut underage drinking arrests in half since 2007.
A group of 26 community coalitions in South Dakota has received a .4 million federal grant for alcohol prevention services, according to the Rapid City Journal. Check out the Journal report for the amounts that the groups in your area will receive.
In case you missed it, check out the Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s story on the large gap that has emerged between parents’ expectations about their teens’ behavior and the actual drinking behaviors of that group.
Leave us a link in the comments if we missed something in this week’s round-up.