National polls indicate the public continues to either not know or not believe the vast body of research de-tailing the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. The latest evidence comes from the annual national Monitoring the Future surveys. The MTF data attracts a great deal of media attention for its findings about youth alcohol, tobacco and drug use, (see December INSIGHTS), but it also tracks an older cohort. The table below shows percentages of young adults who say they: 1) Consumed at least one drink in the month prior to the survey; 2) Believe that moderate consump-tion - 1-2 drinks nearly every day - poses a "great risk" of harm; 3) "Disapprove" of moderate drinking. Perhaps the most important conclusion: the vast ma-jority of young adults continues to disapprove of mod-erate drinking. The actual percentages have bounced around over the last 20 years, but 60% or more of Americans age 19-30 still say they disapprove of the habit. Over 2/3 of 19-22 yr-olds and 27-30 yr olds disapprove of moderate drinking. Attitudes have softened somewhat from the early 90s, when nearly 80% disapproved, but the numbers haven't changed much over the last 5 years. In fact, disapproval rates rose among the youngest and oldest of these groups in 2004. Similarly, a significant minority - 21-23% of young adults - believes moderate drinking poses a "great risk" of harm to the drinker. Again, those fig-ures have improved over the long term, but haven't changed much in recent years.

How about actual drinking habits among these age groups? The vast majority drinks at least occasionally, and that rate increased slightly for all but the 29-30 yr-olds over the last 5- and 10 years. But the figure de-clined from mid-late 80s levels for all of these groups. In contrast, MTF data shows some recent increases in monthly drinking among 30-45 yr olds. For example, while 64% of 35-yr-olds were drinkers in 2000, that rose to 70.3% in 2004. Ref 3