Teen drinking and drug use is down*. Who should get the credit?

Langdon Jenkins
Jul 23, 2017 · 7 min read

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a study that has measured alcohol, drug, and cigarette use in teens since the 1970s. It’s conducted by the University of Michigan and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health. This year around 45,000 students from close to 400 public and private schools took the survey.

If you read the report or articles about the study, you feel like we are doing a fantastic job as a nation in the battle against drugs and alcohol. Here’s a summary of the study I quickly put together using topline findings from the NIH website drugabuse.gov:

  • This year’s MTF survey of drug use and attitudes among American 8th, 10th, and 12th graders is encouraging
  • Past-year use of marijuana is at its lowest level in more than 2 decades among 8th and 10th graders and remains unchanged among 12th graders compared to 5 years ago, despite the changing state marijuana laws
  • The percentage of high school students who reported ever using alcohol dropped by as much as 60 percent compared to peak years*
  • Over the past 5 years, (opioid) misuse has dropped 45 percent. Heroin use remains very low, with past-year use reported by 0.3 percent in all grades
  • Use of traditional cigarettes has continued to decline to the lowest levels in the survey’s history
  • Significant decreases in e-cigarette use from last year were reported by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders

And although these results fly in the face of what I see in reality, I’m not going to argue against them. I’m just going to argue who should get — or take — credit for them. The study researchers don’t get specific when they were asked about the results. From USA Today:

The question is: Why is all this happening?” asked Lloyd Johnston, who has led the survey since it was begun in 1975. “Even though we have some hypotheses, I don’t know that we necessarily have the right ones.”

Well, Lloyd, I’m going to help you out. Here’s who should get the credit:

The 23 million Americans in long-term recovery. These people are examples that drugs and alcohol are not harmless. There are serious consequences, but addiction can be overcome. It’s trickle-down sobriety. What used to be family secrets are now discussed openly. People are forthcoming with their sobriety so others can benefit from their experiences and not repeat them.

A&E’s Intervention. The premise of Intervention is to chronicle a person’s addiction, and then the meeting (intervention) where the family confronts the addict about his or her behaviors and attempts to get the person into rehab. This program shows what life is like for an alcoholic/addict and the effects it has on his or her family. It gives people suffering from addiction hope that there is a better life. And it gives the friends, family, and loved ones who deal with a person in active addiction knowledge about what to do when things have to change.

The Anonymous People This movie has been at the forefront of getting people taking about recovery in a positive way. The description from IMDb sums up the movie: Deeply entrenched social stigma has kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. The vacuum created by this silence has been filled by sensational mass media depictions of addiction that continue to perpetuate a lurid public fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. Just like women with breast cancer, or people with HIV/AIDS, a grass roots social justice movement is emerging. Courageous addiction recovery advocates have come out of the shadows and are organizing to end discrimination and move toward recovery-based solutions.

Recovery groups AA, NA, Smart Recovery, and many groups more provide recovery on a daily basis for both those in immediate need of help and in long-term recovery. There is no better therapy than gathering with your peers and talking about your situation with those who have been there. These groups are free and anyone with a willingness to recovery is welcome.

Thousands of rehab facilities. Whether it’s inpatient, outpatient, or residential, there is healing going on every day in every corner of America. This is where lives change. Some people get it the first time, others don’t. These facilities are on the front lines of recovery. When you include facilities that provide other services like counseling, case management, behavioral therapy, and the like you are at almost 15,000 facilities according to the NIH.

Research by the medical community Clinical studies and research papers continue to show the world that alcohol is far from harmless, and that addiction is a disease — not a personal failure. Recent studies have proven links between alcohol and many types of cancer. These studies are being ignored by the alcohol lobby for now, but as with cigarettes, time is not on their side. It’s hard to ignore facts like the cost of alcohol to society of almost $2.00 per drink according to the CDC. This fact doesn’t mesh with a healthcare system that is moving towards evidence-based treatment. Alcohol is now classified as a carcinogen. The truth is getting out thanks to this great research.

Of course there are more people who should take credit. Doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors… this list goes on. There is not enough space to list them all.

But this group of people and organizations as a whole will not take the credit. Partially because they are not necessarily geared at prevention — they’re geared at dealing with the consequences. And partly because they would find it self-seeking. And partly because there is so much more work to be done. The findings of the MTF study are not a pat-on-the-back to these groups.

Here’s who — like it or not — will take the credit:

Alcohol manufacturers Just this past week I was submitting a complaint for an irresponsible beer commercial through the Beer Institute (we’ll get to them in a minute). It was a Bud Light commercial, and in the response to the complaint they made sure to point out just how responsible they are:

You may be interested to know that in the past 30 years, Anheuser-Busch has been the industry leader in promoting alcohol responsibility. Since 1982, Anheuser-Busch and our wholesalers have committed more than $1 billion in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to prevent underage drinking and drunk driving.

There’s just something wrong with an industry that is continually seeking more sales to even pretend that they are the cause of lower rates of drinking. It’s like them saying that advertising doesn’t affect a person’s choice. So why do it? They have a vested interest in creating customers and keeping them loyal.

Alcohol lobbyists and organizations Groups created to make sure alcohol is America’s drug of choice are powerful advocates to keep things the way they are. So when things are “great” — as in the rates of underage drinking going down — they are going to make sure they get the word out and take the credit.

DISCUS, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, is all about taking credit. In their news section it has a link to the MTF results with the headline Teen Drinking Rates at Historic Lows, Says 2016 Monitoring the Future Study

“Key to this success is educating parents and other adults about the consequences of providing alcohol to teens,” said Distilled Spirits Council President & CEO Kraig R. Naasz. “While there is more work to do, these historic declines in teen drinking underscore the effectiveness of public-private partnerships.”

And DISCUS wants you to know that they have been taking responsibility seriously for a long time.

“Within months of the repeal of Prohibition, leaders in the distilled spirits industry approved their first voluntary Code of Responsible Practices. Throughout the decades, the Distilled Spirits Council’s Code of Responsible Practices has embodied the high standards and commitment to responsibility that have been the touchstone of DISCUS member company advertising practices.”

Let’s go back to the Beer Institute:

Their website touts BEER INSTITUTE PRAISES FINDING THAT TEEN ALCOHOL USE AT HISTORIC LOWS

America’s brewers and beer importers praised the findings of the study as a result of greater awareness, education and partnerships among parents, educators, law enforcement, retailers, and the beer industry.

“The findings of this study are encouraging, especially for our industry, which is committed to the prevention of underage drinking,” said Jim McGreevy, President and CEO of the Beer Institute. “However, we know that our work and the work of others must continue. We are committed to working with schools, parents, law enforcement, and local leaders to help ensure these rates continue to decline to further reduce underage drinking.”

*But are the rates really down? Recently the Surgeon General called e-cigarettes an emerging health threat to our youth. The Wall Street Journal reported that, “Federal figures show that last year, 16 percent of high school students reported at least some use of e-cigarettes — even some who say they’ve never smoked a conventional cigarette. While not all contain nicotine, Murthy’s report says e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco-related product among youth. Nicotine is bad for a developing brain no matter how it’s exposed, Murthy said.”

What’s interesting is that when the Surgeon General says e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco-related product. According to the study, smokeless tobacco and cigarettes are both used more than e-cigarettes.

I know I said I would not argue against the numbers. I didn’t. the Surgeon General did it for me.


Originally published at www.theyreek.com.

Exposing irresponsible alcohol marketing + advertising that targets the underage and addicted. Sober father, writer, blogger, and cancer survivor.

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