Wood County Prevention Coalition
Uniting For A Drug-Free Community Since 2004
Newsletter for April 9, 2019 Vol. #5 Issue #6
Featured Speaker for April 26th Coalition Meeting Announced
The next Wood County Coalition meeting is set to take place at the Wood County Educational Service Center on April 26, 2019 from 8:30 AM to 10 AM and the featured presenter will be Scott C. Martin, PhD, Bowling Green State University History Professor and Department Chair.
National Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 through 1933, fundamentally changed U. S. approaches to the regulation of alcohol and prevailing trends in alcohol consumption. The 18th Amendment, which enacted Prohibition, and the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement, outlawed the production, sale, or transportation of beverage alcohol within the United States. The new prohibitory regime did not function as its advocates predicted, and widespread bootlegging, smuggling, illicit sales, and general lawlessness Prohibition caused many Americans to lose faith in the “noble experiment” and militate for change. Ultimately, the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, but Prohibition nonetheless transformed alcohol policy and American culture.
Scott C. Martin is a social and cultural historian who specializes in the 19th-century United States and the history of drugs and alcohol. Since receiving his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 he has taught at the University of California, Riverside, and, since 1993, BGSU. He has written or edited books on 19th-century American leisure, the market revolution in America, and the antebellum US temperance movement. His articles have appeared in The Journal of the Early Republic, The Journal of Social History, The Journal of Family History, and The Social History of Alcohol Review. He has a chapter on 20th-century U.S. alcohol and drugs policy in the Oxford Handbook of American Political History and is also currently an editor for the Oxford Handbook of the History of Alcohol. Most recently, Dr. Martin has had “’The Prime Minister of the Grisly King of Terrors, Death’: Alcohol in the Nineteenth Century Reform Imagination,” published in the French Review of American Studies.
To RSVP, please use the form below or email mkarna@wcesc.org.
A growing number of states raise the smoking age to 21
by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Monday, April 8th 2019Washington and Illinois became the latest states to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law Friday. It will apply to tobacco products, e-cigarettes and other vaping products and is set to go into effect January 2020.
In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Tobacco 21 Bill saying the legislation will improve health and "save lives."
The two states passed the age restrictions just days after the Maryland General Assembly approved a bill to raise the age to buy tobacco products to 21.
Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Virginia and Utah have passed similar laws in recent years.
At least 450 localities have enacted age restrictions on tobacco and vaping products, including New York City, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Cleveland, Kansas City and Chicago, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids reported.
One vape shop employee in Washington State told KOMO News that about 30 percent of the customers in smoke and vape shops are typically under the age of 21.
Dharma Sa at the University Smoke Shop in Seattle expects to lose some business. "But you know, we just have to adapt to it. It’s fine. It’s probably a good thing. You see a lot of young kids in here," she told KOMO.
The latest National Youth Tobacco survey found a dramatic 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use among middle schoolers and high schoolers over the past year, as traditional cigarette use has declined.
In Yakima, Washington some local smoke shops were more concerned about the law cutting into their sales, but some young local smokers were supportive.
“I started smoking cigarettes at 17, smoke a pack a day. I wish I would’ve never started, so it’s a really good thing, actually," David Werremeyer told KIMA.
“Smoking is obviously very bad for your health. I mean, it’s very obvious. I feel like culturally, we’re at a place where we all know it’s wrong. The science is there,” said Trent Dale.
Vu Pham isn't 21 yet, but he smokes. He told KOMO that the new law will make it tough for him to get his smokes.
"For me, right now, it’s not fair," he said. But he acknowledged it could be positive. "It's good for me so I can stop it," Pham added. "I usually only smoke two per day, so it's not a big deal."
‘Safe’ teen drinking? Here’s why parents shouldn’t facilitate it
By Elizabeth Heubeck
April 1 The Washington Post“Well, we did it when we were their age.”
This common refrain, popular among parents with a permissive attitude toward underage drinking, is often coupled with well-intentioned efforts to keep adolescents safe while consuming alcohol: Think encouraging alcohol-imbibing teens to take advantage of ride programs like Uber, to spend the night at a friend’s house, or to drink in one’s own home as opposed to unknown settings. Referred to by social scientists as “harm reduction,” this strategy is more than just ineffective, say experts. It’s helping to fuel an epidemic of teenage binge drinking.
Although many parents of today’s teenagers drank when they were young, data shows important differences between teen drinking then and now. In 1991, about half of high school students reported consuming alcohol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2015, less than 18 percent of high-schoolers drank. That 65 percent decline is news to celebrate. But here’s the bad news: Many of today’s teens who drink do so in excess. More than half of high school students who drink alcohol report recent episodes of binge drinking — consuming five or more drinks at a time — according to the CDC.
This comes as no surprise to Joseph LaBrie, a Loyola Marymount University psychology professor and alcohol researcher. “One of the major reasons I see now [for underage drinking] is to black-out, get wasted. That wasn’t the case 20 years ago,” he said.
Most parents don’t want their teens to binge drink. But parents who attempt to provide safe parameters — like having teens drink in the basement with friends — increase the likelihood that their offspring will become binge drinkers. “Parents truly think they’re doing the right thing. This is coming from such a good place,” acknowledged Lindsay Squeglia, an alcohol researcher and professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Researchers in the growing field of alcohol research aren’t interested in passing judgment on parents. Rather, they’re eager to share evidence that demonstrates unequivocally why teens benefit from waiting even a few years before they start drinking. Experts also want parents to know they have far more influence over their teens’ decisions regarding alcohol use than they may realize.
Wood county prevention coalition community meeting: featured presentation, "Prohibition at 100: A History of the ‘Noble Experiment’”
Wood County Prevention Coalition Community Meeting
Friday, Apr 26, 2019, 08:30 AM
Wood County Educational Services, Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Hidden in Plain Sight@ Eastwood, May 2nd 6 PM - 8 PM
About Us
Our Vision: Helping youth be drug-free, productive and responsible citizens.
Our Mission: We are a coalition of compassionate community members working together to coordinate high quality programs for the prevention of youth substance abuse in Wood County.
Email: mkarna@wcesc.org
Website: wcprevention.org
Location: 1867 Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: (419)-354-9010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPCoalition
Twitter: @woodpccoalition