Youth Oppose Insidious Marketing of Alcohol Consumption in California

In an October 19th, 2007 press release, the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel stated that young people had teamed up with other interested parties to ask that safeguards be initiated on Alcopops and other alcohol containing energy drinks. The meeting took place at the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel yearly Legislative Forum on Underage Drinking. Two of the goals of the Forum are to get the governor of California to reclassify energy drinks containing alcohol as "distilled spirits", and to get him to investigate the marketing of alcohol containing energy drinks to teenagers.

Energy drinks containing alcohol also contain caffeine and other products that mask the effects of alcohol, and make it difficult for the individual, particularly a young person, to release the degree of impairment of performance associated with alcoholic intake, according to the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel press release.b

At the Forum, the youth from the San Diego Youth Council gave alcohol containing energy drinks to teachers and law enforcement officers, and asked them to distinguish between energy drinks containing alcohol and energy drinks without alcoholic content. Most adults are not able to specify which drinks contained the alcohol, according to the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel press release.

Mary Kate Foster, the Chair of the San Diego Youth Council, was quoted in the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel press release as stating: "These drinks taste very similar to each other. Most adults we have found can't tell which have alcohol in them." She added, "On top of that, the alcohol industry labeling practices make it too hard to tell the difference between drinks that contain alcohol and those that don't."

The San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel press release also summarized a report by the Marin Institute which found that thirty-one percent of twelve to seventeen year olds reported consuming energy drinks, and thirty four percent of eighteen to twenty four year olds reported that they already consumed energy drinks on a regular basis. The press release quoted Judy Walsh Jackson of the California Coalition on Alcopops and Youth to indicate that the marketing of Alcopops as a next step from energy drinks was insidious. Ms. Jackson concluded, "Alcohol in energy drinks is a dangerous mix."

Patty Drieslein, Program Coordinator of the San Diego County Alcohol Policy Panel pointed out in the press release also that the State Board of Equalization had changed the status of Alcopops from beer to "distilled spirits" in August by a vote of 3 to 2.

Source

October 19th press release of San Diego Country Alcohol Policy Panel

URL:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-19-2007/0004686041&EDATE=b