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American Morning

Interview With Jeanne Blake, Robert Spotswood

Aired September 17, 2003 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new documentary focuses on the epidemic of underage drinking in the United States. "Alcohol: True Stories" is hosted by actor Matt Damon and looks at the devastating effects of teenage drinking through first person accounts.
Jeanne Blake is a producer, Robert Spotswood is featured in "Alcohol: True Stories."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SPOTSWOOD, JUNIOR, UVA: There were a number of reasons why I drank in high school. It relaxed me at parties when I'd see others that, perhaps, intimidated me or I wanted to get to know. It was something I thought could really put me at ease and make the situation more comfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Blake and Robert Spotswood join me this morning. Good morning to both of you, thanks for joining me.

Jeanne, your documentary profiles four young people and Robert is the first. So I really want to start with his story.

Robert, you talk about how you're 16-years-old, you've had your drivers license not for very long and you call your mom on your cell phone and say, I'm heading off to a party. What happened next?

SPOTSWOOD: I was with my best friend whose name was also Robert and we had been drinking for a bulk of the evening and we found a friend of mine, and essentially followed him to a party.

And I started speeding because I lost the person I was following. And I started fishtailing as I went around a sharp turn, and hit a tree head-on. And I flew out, half of my leg stayed in the car and the rest of my body flew the and was embedded in the engine.

O'BRIEN: You were in terrible shape. You're a young man who had been an excellent athlete. You were, some said, maybe an Olympic hopeful down the road a little bit. Give me a sense to the degree to which this accident and drinking and driving destroyed your dream.

SPOTSWOOD: Well, it's true. I'd always been passionate about soccer. It was my sport. I was hoping to play in college.

Instantly, from just having a few beers, it ended. And it was tragic. And it wasn't really until my soccer team came in to the hospital, and they looked at me lying there in the hospital that I understood that I permanently hurt myself. And it was hard to deal with emotionally, physically, everything.

O'BRIEN: You say hurt yourself. You lost your leg....

SPOTSWOOD: I lost my leg above the knee, among many other injuries. But that was the most apparent.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne, we hear Robert's story and of course, I think the extent of his injuries is unusual. But to some degree the story's not that unusual. A young person out with a party, following some friends, drinking and driving. In your research have you found this to be pretty typical?

JEANNE BLAKE, PRODUCER, "ALCOHOL: TRUE STORIES": Over and over and over in talking with young people they told me they had gotten into trouble when they were either drinking or using drugs. And I knew that it was time for us to really focus attention on underage drinking because as Robert says in the documentary, so many young people do consider themselves to be bulletproof.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, Robert, I have to wonder how do you get the message that you're trying to get out to teenagers? As you know that's a group that rolls their eyes when someone starts to lecture them about the dangers of drinking and drugs and things like that. So how do you think you can make your message really stick?

SPOTSWOOD: Well, it is a story that tells the truth. And there's a fine line between preaching and telling a story. And I've always said to children and adolescents in speaking that you need to recognize that life really is a gift.

You know, I misused that gift by making a bad decision. You need to know how quickly you can go from state soccer team to a wheelchair to having a prosthetic.

O'BRIEN: I'm curious to know what Jeanne would think about the hardest part of getting kids to buy into the message?

BLAKE: Well developmentally they're not capable really of looking into the future and seeing that there are consequences for their choices that they make like Robert made that night.

And that's why parents have to help them do that. And they can do that by asking smart questions and really taking them into that process and that situation. And a back and forth discussion to help them really understand, you know, why would you do that? And not in a preaching way, as Robert said so well, and not accusatory. But really asking smart questions and then listening.

And in that way, kids can help themselves anticipate a situation, and hopefully when they find themselves in a situation, they'll make a healthy choice.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Blake and Robert Spotswood. It's nice to have you both. Thanks for joining us. BLAKE: Thank you, Soledad.

SPOTSWOOD: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 17, 2003 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new documentary focuses on the epidemic of underage drinking in the United States. "Alcohol: True Stories" is hosted by actor Matt Damon and looks at the devastating effects of teenage drinking through first person accounts.
Jeanne Blake is a producer, Robert Spotswood is featured in "Alcohol: True Stories."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SPOTSWOOD, JUNIOR, UVA: There were a number of reasons why I drank in high school. It relaxed me at parties when I'd see others that, perhaps, intimidated me or I wanted to get to know. It was something I thought could really put me at ease and make the situation more comfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Blake and Robert Spotswood join me this morning. Good morning to both of you, thanks for joining me.

Jeanne, your documentary profiles four young people and Robert is the first. So I really want to start with his story.

Robert, you talk about how you're 16-years-old, you've had your drivers license not for very long and you call your mom on your cell phone and say, I'm heading off to a party. What happened next?

SPOTSWOOD: I was with my best friend whose name was also Robert and we had been drinking for a bulk of the evening and we found a friend of mine, and essentially followed him to a party.

And I started speeding because I lost the person I was following. And I started fishtailing as I went around a sharp turn, and hit a tree head-on. And I flew out, half of my leg stayed in the car and the rest of my body flew the and was embedded in the engine.

O'BRIEN: You were in terrible shape. You're a young man who had been an excellent athlete. You were, some said, maybe an Olympic hopeful down the road a little bit. Give me a sense to the degree to which this accident and drinking and driving destroyed your dream.

SPOTSWOOD: Well, it's true. I'd always been passionate about soccer. It was my sport. I was hoping to play in college.

Instantly, from just having a few beers, it ended. And it was tragic. And it wasn't really until my soccer team came in to the hospital, and they looked at me lying there in the hospital that I understood that I permanently hurt myself. And it was hard to deal with emotionally, physically, everything.

O'BRIEN: You say hurt yourself. You lost your leg....

SPOTSWOOD: I lost my leg above the knee, among many other injuries. But that was the most apparent.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne, we hear Robert's story and of course, I think the extent of his injuries is unusual. But to some degree the story's not that unusual. A young person out with a party, following some friends, drinking and driving. In your research have you found this to be pretty typical?

JEANNE BLAKE, PRODUCER, "ALCOHOL: TRUE STORIES": Over and over and over in talking with young people they told me they had gotten into trouble when they were either drinking or using drugs. And I knew that it was time for us to really focus attention on underage drinking because as Robert says in the documentary, so many young people do consider themselves to be bulletproof.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, Robert, I have to wonder how do you get the message that you're trying to get out to teenagers? As you know that's a group that rolls their eyes when someone starts to lecture them about the dangers of drinking and drugs and things like that. So how do you think you can make your message really stick?

SPOTSWOOD: Well, it is a story that tells the truth. And there's a fine line between preaching and telling a story. And I've always said to children and adolescents in speaking that you need to recognize that life really is a gift.

You know, I misused that gift by making a bad decision. You need to know how quickly you can go from state soccer team to a wheelchair to having a prosthetic.

O'BRIEN: I'm curious to know what Jeanne would think about the hardest part of getting kids to buy into the message?

BLAKE: Well developmentally they're not capable really of looking into the future and seeing that there are consequences for their choices that they make like Robert made that night.

And that's why parents have to help them do that. And they can do that by asking smart questions and really taking them into that process and that situation. And a back and forth discussion to help them really understand, you know, why would you do that? And not in a preaching way, as Robert said so well, and not accusatory. But really asking smart questions and then listening.

And in that way, kids can help themselves anticipate a situation, and hopefully when they find themselves in a situation, they'll make a healthy choice.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Blake and Robert Spotswood. It's nice to have you both. Thanks for joining us. BLAKE: Thank you, Soledad.

SPOTSWOOD: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com