LIEBERMAN, DEWINE COMBAT UNDERAGE DRINKING ON COLLEGE
CAMPUSES
Bill
Would Provide $50 Million in Grants to States for Community
Projects
A bill
sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Mike DeWine
(R-OH) would tackle underage drinking on college campuses and
universities by awarding $50 million dollars in grants for
states. Grants would fund projects such as providing
alcohol-free events, support groups, and information to students
to reinforce that alcohol and drug-use is not the only way to
have fun.
"Binge
drinking is a problem that touches not just a few students and
their families, but entire communities," said Lieberman.
"This trend among students to not just drink, but to drink
in excess, in fact, to drink themselves to death, must be
stopped before more damage is done. If the tragic and
unnecessary deaths of six Connecticut college students in one
year from alcohol abuse isn't enough to get this legislation
passed, I don't know what will do it."
"Currently,
28 states, including my home state of Ohio, have coalitions
which deal with the culture of alcohol and drug abuse in our
nation's college communities," said DeWine. "They work
with the surrounding community including local residents, bar,
restaurant and shop owners, and law enforcement officials,
towards a common goal of changing the college culture of
substance abuse."
According to
a 1999 Harvard University study, 40 percent of college students
are binge drinkers and according to the Department of Health and
Human Services, nearly 10 and a half million current drinkers
were under the legal age of 21. Of these, over five million were
binge drinkers.
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