Radley Balko, a blogger from http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/, the official Cato Institute blog, recently deconstructed the CASA study weÁ-?ve been discussing here and brought up someá= interesting points that I wanted to share with you.

Bottom line - according to independent experts, the misuse of data that we have been discussing in this space may actually be putting our youth at risk. Read on.

Balko points out that CASA has a nasty habit of fudging its numbers for the sake of sensationalism.á= (And you donÁ-?t have to take my word for it Á-? read what a Ph.D., who suggests CASA change its name to Á-°the Center for Alcohol Statistics Abuse,Á-? has to say about their historical manipulation of the facts.)

Subsequently, and perhaps even worse, there is a dangerous trend among some well-respected journalists at top tier media outlets Á-? The New York Times, for one Á-? who fail to confirm the accuracy of CASAÁ-?s research and jump to cover the Á-°newsÁ-? from this organization and others in the habit of fictionalizing science.

One of the reasons I find this trend so troubling is because perpetuating this Á-°dataÁ-? could actually increase underage drinking.á= At Diageo, we think any underage drinking is too much, period.á= Exaggerating these numbers is not only unethical, it is also downright dangerous.

H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and department Chair at Hobart and William Smith Colleges has done extensive research that suggests students often believe their peers drink more, and more often, than they actually do.á= And the troubling part is that those students will then model their behavior after what they think their peers are doing, oftentimes leading them to drink more.

Dr. Perkins accurately hypothesized that correcting these misperceptions can reduce underage drinking.á= This led to a revolutionary new approach to alcohol education.á= Instead of utilizing traditional, ineffective Á-°scare tactics,Á-? many academic institutions now use the social norms approach to educate students on accurate norms amongst their peers.

And it works.

In April 2006, when the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) issued its Alcohol Alert, it was noted that Á-°the phenomenon of perceived social normsÁ-¦or the belief that Á-°everyoneÁ-? is drinking and drinking is acceptableÁ-¦is one of the strongest correlates of drinking among young adultsÁ-¬Recent research has shown that addressing these misperceptions can help reduce drinking.Á-?

At the end of the day, we all want to eliminate underage drinking.á= And the good news is that underage drinking is on the decline.

So why does CASA continue to release erroneous Á-°research,Á-? putting our youth at risk?

Cheers!

guy