Dem offers bill to reauthorize underage drinking prevention programs

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) has introduced a measure to reauthorize programs to prevent underage drinking.

Roybal-Allard is the author of the original 2006 law, which expired in 2010, that established federal research programs on the effects of underage drinking on adolescents’ health. The law also authorized national media campaigns to discourage adolescents from drinking under the legal age.

The California Democrat argued that the continued prevalence of underage drinking merited a reauthorization of the original law.

{mosads}”The programs in the original STOP Act have been successful in helping to reduce America’s underage drinking rate, but we still have more work to do,” Roybal-Allard said in a statement. 

Alcohol is the most commonly used — and abused — drug among American youth, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The reauthorization measure would provide grants to community groups to work with colleges and universities to discourage underage drinking. It would also authorize new grants to pediatric provider organizations for educating doctors on best practices for screening teenagers or providing interventions for alcohol abuse.