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American Morning
MADD, Alcohol Industry Promoting Lower Legal Drinking Limits
Aired April 10, 2001 - 10:20 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington this hour, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and safety advocates announcing a new effort to fight drunken driving. CNN's Jeanne Meserve joining us now from Washington with more -- Jeanne, good morning once again.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
It's a somewhat unusual moment of cohesion and cooperation. Mothers Against Drunk Driving and an arm of the alcohol industry are speaking with one voice. They're holding a news conference right now at the National Press Club outlining their strategy state by state to establish .08 as the legal blood alcohol limit across the land. They say quite imply it will save hundreds of lives.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is there, too. You see him speaking there now, cheering them on. Right now, 19 states and the District of Columbia have adopted .08 as the new limit and a handful of others have passed bills that await governors' signatures.
The limit in most remaining states is .10. Massachusetts has no legal limit.
This morning on CNN, former Congresswoman Susan Molinari, who now heads The Century Council, funded by U.S. distillers, welcomed the opportunity to work with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN MOLINARI, THE CENTURY COUNCIL: We think this is such an historic day to work with someone like Millie Webb and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, to work with states like Massachusetts and others to get to .08 with a comprehensive package of after care treatment, of blood alcohol concentration education, vehicle sanctions. We want to make sure that there's a comprehensive package that surrounds the .08 to make sure that repeat offenders, the hard core drunk driver, are finally taken off the road.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Congress set the new national standard in legislation passed last October and states have until October of 2003 to make it law. After that, they risk losing highly coveted federal highway funds. Meanwhile, in another room at the Press Club, another event to highlight another public safety issue. This one involves prescription drugs and what government officials say is the skyrocketing level at which they are being abused.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse cites popular painkillers and anti-anxiety medications Vicadin, Oxycontin, Zanax, Valium as fueling an abuse explosion. This morning the director told CNN regular people are often sucked in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ALAN LESHNER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE: What seems to happen is two different things. One is there's a group of people who start using a little bit of drug and it works and then they use a little bit more and it works better and they start to feel good and then over time it escalates on them, so they sort of lose control over their own self-medication.
The other group of people who are getting drugs on the street, they're people who, for whom prescription drugs are being diverted or sold or given by friends and then they go through the same kind of a process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Today's event is aimed at educating the public, the medical community and pharmacists about the dangers and signs of prescription drug abuse -- Kyra, back to you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jeanne, thanks.
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