Youth Leadership Day!

La Crosse Teen Leaders, post your mission statement here on the blog - in the comment area below and be sure to add your name. You will be putting your intention out into the universe and starting it in motion. It is harder to ignore something when you have shared it! Good luck and I am inspired by you all!

Check out USA Today Article on Rx Abuse

Abuse of prescription drugs dips

21 drinking age saves lives, helps brains

Teens - check out the letters to the Editor from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on 7/22/09. Text is below...what do you think? post your comments here...

LETTER: 21 drinking age saves lives, helps brains

July 22, 2009
Why is the drinking age 21?
Recently, there was a letter to the editor in the paper about "Why not lower the drinking age?" Some colleges and other organizations have also spent time wondering whether or not the drinking age should be 21. Common arguments for lowering the drinking age to 18 include: if a person can go to war at age 18, then they should be able to drink and since the majority of college students' drink, lowering the drinking age would alleviate campus enforcement issues. The reality is that lowering the legal drinking age will not alleviate each community's problems associated with binge-drinking or alcohol abuse.

What conversations fail to show is, since the drinking age was changed to 21, a significant number of lives have been saved. According to National Traffic Highway Administration, the 21 minimum drinking age law saves 900 lives a year in alcohol-related traffic crashes. Additionally, we know that the brain continues to develop from 12 years old to the mid-20s -- the years in which critical periods of brain development take place, and where the effects of alcohol can impair learning and memory (1). When drinking is delayed until the age of 21, a person is four times less likely to become an alcoholic (2). In fact, in 1984, when the drinking age was 18, only 8 percent of high school seniors had never used alcohol in their lifetime. Over time, that percent of seniors has risen to 28 percent, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse's 2007 Monitoring the Future Survey (3).

Comprehensive coalitions are reducing underage drinking through community-wide strategies by addressing access and availability of alcohol, changing community norms and supporting law enforcement. Join your local coalition and be a part of the movement to reduce traffic fatalities, delay the onset of initial drinking and make our communities safer. Protect our youth by creating healthy environments free from the pressures to use alcohol.

Danielle Luther
Pittsville
(1) White, A. (2001). Alcohol and adolescent brain development. Duke University Medical Center. Durham, N.C.
(2) Moritsugu, Dr. K.P. (2007). The surgeon general's call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

(3) Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). (2009). Drinking age debate ignores the facts. Retrieved May 2, 2009 from www.cadca.org.

LETTER: Why not lower Wisconsin's drinking age?

July 14, 2009
Bars forced to go smoke-free can recover lost income if Wisconsin politicians lower the adult drinking age from 21 to 18.

I may not be the sharpest pencil in the box, but I think I have common sense -- debatable -- which is more than I can say for politicians. Name one politician with common sense, and I'll submit their name to "Ripley's Believe It Or Not." Show me two, and I'll enter their names in the "Guinness World Records." If you don't believe me, look at our (previous) $6.6 million deficit. They will try to pay for it with another cigarette tax Sept. 1.

If everyone is forced to quit smoking, or cut back, how are they going to recover that loss in taxes? Maybe they'll put a huge tax on toilet paper. People can't stop using that. Oops! I've given them an idea! Sorry.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why 18- to 20-year-old adults can fight a war, and are old enough to make a decision to take a human life, or possibly lose their own, yet when they come home on leave, they can't have a beer. What are they fighting for? Our freedom, or theirs? I wonder.

They are old enough to buy a bar, serve drinks, but can't drink in it. Also, after July 5, 2010, they can't smoke in it either.

Another example of a 20-year-old adult: They can get married, but if he toasts his wife with a glass of champagne, he won't be able to drive his car on his honeymoon. I guess he can always ask Mommy and Daddy to drive, because he's just a kid. Or maybe the best man, if he's alcohol-free. But, I'd stick with my parents, because I wouldn't trust the best man on my honeymoon. Two's company, three's a crowd!

I think I've figured out why politicians don't have common sense. Alcohol kills brain cells. Maybe they did too much underage drinking themselves. Their motto seems to be: "Do as I say, but don't do what I did."

Gary Keyzer
Nekoosa

For the world to see...

Okay Teen Leaders, let’s see how courageous you are. Post your mission statement here (in the comment area), and add your name. You will be putting your intention out into the universe and starting it in motion. It is harder to ignore something when you have shared it! Good luck and I am inspired by you all!

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