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Remarks as prepared; not a transcript. RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H Thank you Mrs. Hoeven, (North Dakota First Lady Mikey L. Hoeven) for the gracious introduction. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am honored to be here today. It's a privilege to deliver this welcoming address. I want to give a special thanks to the First Lady for extending the invitation and giving me the opportunity to share this time with you. I commend Mrs. Hoeven for her longstanding support for the prevention of underage drinking. In keeping with her longstanding leadership she serves as co-chair of the national coalition, Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. This organization is made up of more than 50 current and former First Spouses and is aimed at combating underage drinking in children ages 9-15 years of age. Mrs. Hoeven and Hope Taft, emeritus First Lady from Ohio who is with me today and the Executive Director of the Leadership, have been more than accommodating during my trip to North Dakota. Thank you to both of you for your continued leadership and your commitment to combating underage drinking not only in North Dakota, but across the nation. As the Acting Surgeon General, I am charged with promoting the health and wellness of Americans. I want to take some time with you to discuss some of our top priorities in the Office of the Surgeon General. The first is Prevention - what each of us can do in our own lives and communities to make ourselves and our families healthier. Prevention also means stopping drug and alcohol abuse before they start. I don't have to tell you that prevention is the best strategy for reducing the tragic public and individual health consequences that are associated with the misuse of licit and illicit substances. Because alcohol and drug addiction are such pervasive and vexing public health issues, we must continue to strengthen our public health approach to addressing these problems. I commend you for convening this summit to consider how best to do so. The second priority which we are especially focused is Eliminating Health Disparities. While, overall, our nation's health has improved, not all populations have benefited equally. Many Americans who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups experience disparities in health outcomes and health care. In our great nation, with our global leadership in science and medicine, we still have major disparities in health and health care delivery. This is just not acceptable. It is imperative that things change. In order to succeed in create a healthier, more physically active nation, we must draw upon resources from a variety of service systems, We must also work collaboratively. The interaction of health, social services and the justice system is very familiar and important to me personally. I had the honor of serving as the assistant bureau director and the medical director of the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. I've had a great deal of experience administering health policy and providing care to individuals involved with the justice, social service and rehabilitation systems These memories will be with me forever, and they continue to influence my work as Acting Surgeon General. I understand the challenges faced by those who work in corrections and those who work in juvenile and adult justice - including professionals in the field of substance abuse prevention and treatment. Your work to further the public understanding that substance abuse is a treatable disease. What you do fosters public education, cultural change and better public health. The Office of the Surgeon General is pleased to have you as its partner. In a sense, we all represent anyone with a professional or personal interest in reducing substance misuse among the American population. My remarks today should resonate not only with you - professionals whose mission is to reduce underage drinking and its consequences - but also with other North Dakotans whose quality of life is directly or indirectly diminished by alcohol misuse. A snapshot of the situation is telling {Source: Underage Drinking in North Dakota: The Facts; Produced by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), October 2006}:
Findings like these are one reason the Office of the Surgeon General is especially focused on the issue of young people drinking. Accordingly, in March of this year, we released the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. Underage drinking is not about spring break and it's not about parties. As early as ages 8 and 9, our children are confronted with decisions about alcohol on a regular basis in many settings - including at home and in school. The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates there are 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million are considered binge drinkers, meaning they drank more than five drinks on occasion, and more than two million are classified as heavy drinkers. This needs to stop. Underage drinking is everybody's problem, and its solution is everyone's responsibility. Unfortunately, too many Americans see underage drinking as a rite of passage… kids just being kids. The reality is our young people are being harmed by underage drinking. That's why this Call to Action is attempting to change the culture and attitudes toward underage drinking in America. Beyond the numbers, there are the human consequences of alcohol misuse. Underage drinking is an ongoing contributor to violent crime, traffic accidents, burns, drowning, alcohol poisoning, addiction and dependency, and suicide attempts. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report estimates that underage alcohol use costs the nation an estimated $53 billion annually. This is unacceptable. It is also preventable. All of us, including the Office of the Surgeon General are change agents for the health of young people and others at risk and in need. That's why I am here. It also underscores why this gathering is so important. It is a vehicle through which stakeholders like you can come together and share how your communities, the prevention and treatment organizations with which you are affiliated, can reduce the prevalence of underage drinking on an ongoing basis. This conference gives us a chance to compare notes, exchange information, discuss public policy developments related to addiction and substance misuse and consider next steps which further our common purpose. This environment encourages -- and enables -- discussion of other strategies designed to make alcohol less available to youth and community attitudes about underage drinking less tolerant. Working together, we can accomplish much more than working alone. Put another way, it is here that we "connect the dots." Our common interest is given voice by the Call to Action. In turn, response to the call is made real by states and communities, by organizations like the North Dakota Department of Human Services, by educators, families, by everyone attending this conference. Indeed, the call to action is given voice and vision by YOU. You are the Federal government's partner in making change happen. You are bringing people together. You are systematically mobilizing people who care. I thank you for "pushing back" against what has long, and wrongly, been regarded as an inevitable feature of popular culture - that young people, adolescents will drink alcohol. Through the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) (pronounced You-del) initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice devotes dollars to enforcement, to holding young people, parents and communities accountable. However, as professionals at community level, you give the policy a familiar face: you offer help and hope to families and kids who need it. Allow me to briefly review some of what we know: Recent research shows that the brain continues to develop well beyond childhood and throughout adolescence. Alcohol is the most widely used and abused substance among youth. Among people under age 21, alcohol is a leading contributor to "death from injuries" - the main cause of death in that age group; moreover, a higher percentage of young people between the ages of 12 and 20 use alcohol than tobacco or illicit drugs. Alcohol also plays a significant role in risky sexual behavior including unwanted, unintended and unprotected sexual activity. In turn, this behavior increases the risk for unplanned pregnancies and for contracting sexually transmitted diseases. It also increases the risks of physical and sexual assault. Underage drinking is a well established risk factor for heavy drinking later in life; youth who begin drinking before age 15 are five times as likely to have alcohol problems after age 21. No pun intended: these data are sobering. Underage drinking harms not only our youth, but also our future. We must work to convince parents and other adults that underage drinking is not a harmless "rite of passage." Its effects are lethal. Think again of the spike in violent crime, suicides, injuries, and traffic fatalities directly attributable to underage alcohol use; the increased numbers of young people taken into custody, incarcerated; the costs of addiction treatment; families and lives disrupted; futures of young people lost. Underage drinking is multi-dimensional. To effect change we must approach underage drinking from many different levels. We need to "connect the dots" from all sectors of society: federal, state, and local levels. We need to "connect the dots" between public health - to law enforcement - to public safety - to public education - to parental involvement - and, to our youth. As I mentioned before, alcohol is the most widely used and abused substance among our Nation's youth-more than tobacco and illicit drugs combined. And over the past few years, there has been a significant decline in tobacco and illicit drug use among teens, while underage drinking has remained at consistently high levels. And by tackling an issue collectively- whether its public health, law enforcement, or mental health-we can save more lives. The Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking articulates the Federal commitment to the underage drinking issue. The goals include:
To date, the response to these 6 goals gives reason for optimism. The Federal effort to address underage drinking is coordinated by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) and chaired by the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The committee's member agencies support a wide range of programs in a comprehensive response to the challenge of preventing underage drinking. I would like to take a few moments to highlight certain initiatives. In 2004, DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs assumed management of juvenile and family drug court programs. The drug court approach operates within the juvenile justice system to address the unique needs of juveniles with alcohol and drug disorders and within the civil justice system, to address the substance misuse of parents who are charged with abuse and neglect of their children. The drug court program system combines sanctions with drug, testing, treatment and aftercare to promote abstinence and appropriate behavior. The Call to Action alludes to several activities of particular promise. These include establishing parent "safe home" type coalitions that involve pledges not to serve alcohol to youth and to host only alcohol-free parties. Other activities involve enforcing all existing underage drinking laws and fully involving young people in these efforts.
Programs like these can be established in any community. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, within the Department of Transportation, partners with Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) to develop numerous program materials to address underage drinking and driving. Concurrently, SAMHSA and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have been valuable partners, in reaching out to multiple partners, including scientists, researchers, to states, communities, parents, their children, educators and others. SAMHSA convened more than 1,200 Town Hall Meetings in all 50 states last year. Its theme, a message to parents, teachers, clergy and mentors alike, was "Start Talking Before They Start Drinking." The Ad Council and SAMHSA have developed an underage drinking prevention campaign directed at parents of 9- to 15-year-olds. Products include four television PSAs as well as PSAs for radio, print, and Internet. Another SAMHSA collaborative project, "Reach Out Now" is a unique school-based underage drinking prevention initiative designed specifically for use by fifth- and sixth-grade students, their families, and their teachers. Each year, Reach Out Now, materials are distributed to public, private, and parochial schools nationwide to provide teachers, students, and their families with easy-to-use, informative alerts to the dangers of underage alcohol use. The Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) program provides funding to local schools to implement evidenced-based programs to prevent and reduce underage drinking. The program targets the reduction of binge drinking and attitudes and beliefs about alcohol use through school-based model programs involving schools, families and communities. For more information on Federal programs relevant to underage drinking, I urge you to visit www.StopAlcoholAbuse.gov. It is important to remember that the degree of success we achieve in reducing underage drinking will be only as good our ability to effectively communicate with young people "wherever they are." In order to adopt our message, young people must first listen to it. In order to effectively listen, to truly hear our message, they must first understand it. That's why the Office of the Surgeon General has created what we call Guides to Action for Families, Communities, and Educators. These documents empower families, communities, and educators with the knowledge and tools useful in delivering the underage drinking message in a way that is easy to hear…understand…embrace…and put into action. Published by HHS, the guides are premised on what we know. By making underage drinking information easier to understand and available in this way, we make it easier for our intended audience to become and remain receptive to our message. Young people are better positioned and better able to make sound and appropriate choices when the take- home message is clear. The Guides are written with the best sense of where our listening audience is coming from. These are plain-language guides to help people understand what the Call to Action says and what it means to them. We now issue a guide with every Surgeon General's Call to Action or Report, and have done so for several years. This speaks to another of priority of my office - health literacy, which is the ability of an individual to access, understand, and use information and services to make appropriate health decisions. That's why H-H-S, as a Department, is taking what we know and creating tools to help health organizations, care givers, professionals, service and information providers - like you - improve health literacy all over the country. Health Literacy Website and Quick Guide For example, we've developed a Health Literacy Improvement portal. This portal is equipped with health literacy research, best practices, tools, and steps that you can take to improve the ability of young people, parents, and mentors to understand, for instance, just how consequential underage drinking is. Whether you call it health literacy or not, you and your colleagues routinely help to break down communication barriers with young people, their parents, mentors, everyone with whom you come in contact each day. Please continue to promote health literacy in your communities. In every interaction with kids, families, caregivers and others, look for ways to ensure that people understand that they can make the right choices, whether it pertains to drinking or - more broadly - what they need to do to stay healthy. We need you to be health literacy ambassadors and share this information with your colleagues and organizations. To those ends, H-H-S has developed a Quick Guide to Health Literacy, a brief and easy-to-use manual for improving healthy literacy. The portal can be found at: www.health.gov/communication/literacy Closing and Charge I want to again thank you for all that you do to inform the judgment of North Dakotans - young people, their parents and loved ones alike - to help them make the appropriate choices when it comes to alcohol use. Continue to talk - "early and often" to parents. Encourage them to talk to their children about alcohol, to guide their kids, to get - and remain - involved with their decision-making. Parents' disapproval of underage alcohol use is actually one of the key reasons young people choose not to drink. It is never too early to talk to your kids about alcohol. I am confident that - when broadly discussed among parents, teachers, community leaders, and young people themselves - the goals of the Call to Action to Reduce and Prevent Underage Drinking, will be understood, appreciated, embraced and will literally save lives. So, please redouble your efforts. I look forward to working with all of you as we build bridges and "connect the dots" in our fight to end underage drinking and alcohol misuse. Their consequences are adverse to healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy spirits ... healthy and safe communities, in which our kids can grow and thrive! Thank you. ### Last revised: September 28, 2007 |
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