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92_SJ0030
LRB9208745TAtm
1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Teenagers with their ready access to the motor
3 vehicle have become increasingly mobile, adding a fluid
4 dynamic to the manner in which teenagers consume alcohol and
5 illicit drugs; and
6 WHEREAS, Alcohol and drug abuse by teenagers has not
7 significantly declined in the past several years and remains
8 unacceptably high and possibly, for certain groups,
9 increasing in incidence and shifting to riskier settings; and
10 WHEREAS, 1,695 fifteen to nineteen year olds were killed
11 in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 1998 across America;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, The Aluminum Anonymous Project surveyed 1,175
14 miles of Illinois roadsides, from around the Chicago suburbs,
15 from Freeport to Dixon to Moline to Pontiac to Watseka, from
16 Mattoon to Springfield to East Hannibal, from Effingham to
17 East St. Louis, and from Olney to Mt. Vernon to Carbondale,
18 in April and May of 1998, November of 1999, and April and May
19 of 2000, for the discard rate of alcohol beverage containers;
20 the Project found an average of 875 beer cans and beer
21 bottles per mile of road annually; the Project followed up
22 with "Who's Doing the Tossing?" interviews of professionals
23 working with teens and adults in alcohol and drug settings,
24 who collectively estimated that 50 per cent of the discarded
25 alcohol containers were coming from teenagers; and
26 WHEREAS, In spite of the January, 2001 national survey of
27 teenagers by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
28 Alcoholism (NIAAA) that includes questions on drinking and
29 drug use while driving and riding, perhaps for the first time
30 at the federal level, too little is known about teenage
31 alcohol and drug behavior after the car door closes; and
-2- LRB9208745TAtm
1 WHEREAS, The January, 2001 "Report of the U.S. Surgeon
2 General on Youth Violence" notes that although youth violence
3 may have peaked, it will remain a major problem; and
4 WHEREAS, The January, 2001 report of the National Center
5 on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CASA), from New York, New
6 York, entitled "Shoveling Up: Impact of Substance Abuse on
7 State Budgets", states that only 3% of the $2,869,000 that
8 Illinois spends annually on substance abuse problems goes for
9 prevention and treatment, while the remaining 97% goes for
10 cleaning up the wreckage caused by substance abuse and
11 addiction; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL
13 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE CONCURRING
14 HEREIN, that the Department of Human Services, in cooperation
15 with the Department of Public Health, the Department of
16 Transportation, and the Secretary of State, study the problem
17 of teenage in-vehicle drinking and related drug use by:
18 (1) assembling what is known and not known about
19 this behavior: its dynamic, prevalence, and incidence;
20 and
21 (2) assessing the effectiveness of policies and
22 programs, including their development, implementation,
23 and evaluation, and gauging the adequacy of interagency
24 cooperation, including data sharing and program support;
25 and be it further
26 RESOLVED, That the Department of Human Services report to
27 the General Assembly with a recommended plan of action
28 regarding policy and programs that would more comprehensively
29 incorporate teenage in-vehicle drinking and related drug use
30 into the scope of the State's substance abuse and youth
31 violence prevention strategies; the report to include, if
32 appropriate, the identification of new programs along with
33 their estimated costs; and be it further
-3- LRB9208745TAtm
1 RESOLVED, that suitable copies of this resolution be
2 delivered to the Secretary of Human Services, the Director of
3 Public Health, the Secretary of Transportation, and the
4 Secretary of State.