This morning on the radio, I heard the Washington Post’s Richard Morin express alarm at the latest study from the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse regarding underage drinking. This year’s study — like previous studies from CASA — declares underage drinking a monumental problem, and concludes that the alcohol industry is not only to blame, but that the industry’s bottom line is dependent on continued consumption by minors.
Morin is an ideas guy. He should know better than to buy into what a baldly neoprohibitionist group like CASA puts in its press release without a bit of skepticism. Unfortunately, he’s not alone — this short NY Times piece bites on the study, too.
CASA has an unfortunate history of fudging data in pursuit of an anti‐alcohol agenda. The group had to apologize and retract a 2002 study just hours after its release when critics pointed out massive errors in methodology.