“While wholesalers are taking the fight against underage drinking to the streets educating children and parents about the dangers of alcohol abuse, the staff at CASA is up to their old tricks – manipulating data to suit their own political agenda.  You need only open the New York Times to read the long list of recent studies by CASA that have been marked by the government as seriously flawed or withdrawn due to statistical errors and miscalculations. 

As many have pointed out, if we are to believe CASA’s research over the past two years, then 13 percent of the population is consuming 20 percent of all alcohol sold.  How many 12-20 year olds do you know who consume almost 100 alcoholic beverages per month? 

It’s extremely disappointing that CASA did not learn its lesson last February when a similar study was released.  At that time academics, government officials, media, and industry publicly criticized the study for being flawed and misleading.  In fact, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a statement disputing CASA’s data, revealing that the percent of alcohol consumed by underage drinkers was actually less than half of what CASA claimed,” said Rehr.   

After the 2002 study was released leading alcohol researcher Dr. Dwight Heath remarked, “That big an error cannot be easily dismissed as merely a careless oversight, especially when it was the focus of an institution’s own press release.  Either [CASA Chairman Joseph] Califano and the staff at CASA are so naïve about social surveys and demography that they have no business pretending to do scientific research on them, or it was intentional misrepresentation – or both.”

This time around it’s the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that has come forward to point out that CASA made inappropriate assumptions when using its high school drinking study as part of its research. 

“Unfortunately this recent study harms sincere attempts to fight illegal underage drinking,” Rehr said. “After releasing flawed data and inaccurate information not once, but twice in an attempt to sway public policy, one has to wonder if this organization has any credibility left at all – I think that answer is a resounding ‘no.’ Equally unbelievable is the fact that the Journal of the American Medical Association printed another misleading study from such an unreliable organization.”

Beer wholesalers care deeply about how their businesses affect the community, and play a critical role in educating the public about the problems of alcohol abuse and illegal underage purchase and consumption. While CASA continues to claim America has an underage drinking epidemic, recent research from credible academic institutions, such as UCLA and the University of Michigan, reveals a different story: that drinking among college freshmen and high school seniors has dropped dramatically.  

Dr. David J. Hanson who has spent more than 30 years researching alcohol and drinking problems reports that by consistently exaggerating the extent of drinking and alcohol abuse, CASA actually contributes to the problem. According to Dr. Hanson, when young people go to college they believe the incidence of heavy drinking is much higher than it actually is, and try to conform to the inflated perception of what other students are doing.  “CASA is a very big part of the problem, rather than the solution,” said Dr. Hanson. 

NBWA invites CASA to join beer wholesalers in their efforts to stop illegal underage purchase and consumption of alcohol.  “CASA should put its millions to use to actually fight underage drinking instead of inflating and exacerbating the problem.  Beer wholesalers sponsor thousands of programs from motivational speakers in high schools encouraging students to stand up to peer pressure, to alcohol-free after prom events and educational materials to help parents talk to their children about illegal underage drinking.  We welcome them to join in our efforts which are clearly making a difference,” concluded Rehr.