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dA - Youth and Alcohol: Key Facts and Prevention Ideas <br />o community education programs to increase general <br />awareness of the hazards of drinking during <br />pregnancy <br />o approaches to effectively identify women, including <br />adolescents, whose drinking places them at risk for <br />adverse pregnancy outcomes <br />o interventions aimed at individual women, including <br />adolescents, who are problem drinkers and at <br />greatest risk for having a child who is adversely <br />affected by alcohol <br />Environmental Strategies to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm <br />_ _. __ _ ._. .-- - - <br />among the nation's young people. What is required is a <br />comprehensive range of strategies that can address the many <br />causes and dimensions of alcohol problems. Such strategies <br />may include: <br />• tighter controls on price and availability <br />. increases in Federal, State, and local taxes <br />. enforcement of the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) <br />for purchase of alcohol <br />. legislative measures to curb driving while under the <br />influence of alcohol <br />. restrictions on the promotion, marketing, advertising, and <br />illicit sale of alcohol to youth under 21 <br />. more intensive and effective public education and <br />awareness programs <br />. increased access to primary health care for all young <br />people <br />. improved training for primary care physicians about <br />alcohol use and misuse <br />• community-based interventions that are carefully <br />designed and evaluated <br />• Price increases on alcoholic beverages may be especially <br />effective at reducing addictive consumption by younger, <br />poorer, and less educated consumers (1�1IAAA, 1993; <br />Becker et al, 1991). Alcohol beverage prices can be raised <br />by: <br />0 increases in taxes <br />o license and penalty fees <br />o controls on discounting and drink specials <br />Minimum drinking age laws have saved an estimated <br />15,667 lives since 1975 (NHTSA, 1997). Although many <br />youth still consume alcohol, they drink less and <br />experience fewer alcohol-related injuries and deaths than <br />they did under lower minimum legal drinking ages <br />(Wagenaar, 1993). <br />• Since the early 1980s, legislative initiatives, such as the <br />Page 7 of 12 <br />http:/Iwww.ama-assn.org/special/aos/alcohol l/research/ythfcts.htm 10/26/99 <br />