AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine students surveyed earlier this year think alcohol advertising makes a strong pitch to youths, raising the potential of problems associated with underage drinking, a youth policy group said Thursday.

Survey results released in the State House by Youth Empowerment and Policy Group say ads on television, in magazines and other media encourage young people to drink.

Survey forms were distributed to high school and junior high school students in various parts of Maine earlier this year. About two-thirds of the nearly 500 responses said the alcohol industry is trying to appeal to under-21 age groups through the ads.

More than half believed that people shown in the ads were under 21 years old.

The survey results were included in a report that suggests changes in the message and approach to alcohol ads. It recommends that stores place alcohol ads away from aisles most frequented by minors, more careful placement of magazine ads to avoid young audiences, and use of actors and actresses in alcohol ads who are at least 30 so they look no younger than 25 years of age.

The Youth Empowerment and Policy Group, which was formed in 2001, chooses a substance abuse topic each year which it believes needs a youth perspective. The group, comprised of 15 high school and college students, receives funding from the state’s Office of Substance Abuse.

Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe, who attended Thursday’s briefing, encouraged the students to communicate their findings to the alcohol industry. Rowe said he knows of no similar survey on alcohol advertising

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