Reducing Youth Access to Alcohol

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Reducing Youth Accessto Alcohol

• Traci L. Toomey
• University of Minnesota
• School of Public Health
• Division of Epidemiology

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Minimum Drinking Age Changes 1968-1988
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Drinking Age Effects Age 18-20
Drinking
Fatal Crashes
0
-5
-10
13.3
-15
15.4
-20
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Cumulative Estimated Number of Lives Saved by
Minimum Drinking Age Laws, 1975-1998
Source Traffic Safety Facts 2000, U.S.
Department of Transportation, NHTSA
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Minimum Drinking Age Effects

• Alcohol consumption
• Traffic crashes
• Suicides
• Hospital admissions
• Pedestrian accidents
• Vandalism

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Why are teens stilldrinking?
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43 88 130
16-20 Furnishing Arrests
Adult Furnishing Arrests
Outlet Citations
1000 16-20 Possession Arrests
Source Wagenaar Wolfson, 1994.
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Arrest Rate
Only 2 of every 1000 occasions of underage
drinking result in arrest
Source Wagenaar Wolfson, 1993
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Action Against Outlet
Only 5 of every 100,000 occasions of underage
drinking result in action against outlet.
Source Wagenaar Wolfson, 1993
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Potential Sources of Youth Access to Alcohol
Licensed Outlets
Bars Convenience Stores Grocery Stores Liquor
Stores Restaurants
Illegal Sales
Other Underage Youth
Underage Youth
Legal Sale
Individuals 21 and Over
Social Availability
Co-Workers Friends Parents Siblings Strangers
Wagenaar et al., 1995
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Policies to Reduce Commercial Access
PUBLIC
INSTITUTIONAL

• Ban home delivery
• Server/manager training
• Compliance checks
• Administrative penalties
• Minimum age of seller

• Check age identification
• Server training
• Incentives for checking I.D.
• Post warning signs
• Secret shopper program

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Policies to Reduce Social Access
PUBLIC
INSTITUTIONAL

• Restrictions at community events
• Restrictions in public places
• Parking lot lights at alcohol outlets
• Restrict noisy assemblies
• Keg registration

• School/college policies
• Cite/arrest adult providers
• Lock-up alcohol in the home
• Distribute warning fliers
• Alcohol stories in mass media
• Restrict sales when with underage individuals
• Restrict age of room renters
• Restrictions at stadiums/ events

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Shifts in Policies and Practices
ALCOHOL MERCHANTS
HOTELS

• Merchant/police report forms
• Warning flier distribution
• Policy manual development
• Server training
• Counter advertising

• Enforcement of age and noise policies
• Alcohol removed from large parties
• Room rental fee for parties increased

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Shifts in Policies and Practices
LAW ENFORCEMENT
MEDIA

• Merchant/police report form
• Compliance checks
• House visits
• Prevention training
• Sponsor server training

• Reporting of CMCA and alcohol-related issues
  increased
• Weekly CMCA columns

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Shifts in Policies and Practices
TREATMENT AGENCIES
COMMUNITY EVENTS

• Designated drinking areas
• Keg bans
• Limited hours of sale
• Alcohol-free drinks provided
• Only ticket holders allowed
• Warning signs
• Consolidation of sales
• Marginalize sales location

• Focus expanded to include youth access issues

RELIGIOUS

• Parent education
• Fact sheets in weekly bulletins

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• Alternative sentencing
• program

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Conclusions

• Fewer outlets selling to underage
• Fewer 18-to 20 year-olds providing younger
  teenagers
• Drinking trends down among 18- to
  20- year-olds, not younger teens
• DUI and disorderly conduct arrests down

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Underage Purchase Rate
Oct. 1997 Sept. 2000
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Pseudo-underage Purchase Rates
Intervention
Control
Establishments
Festivals
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Lower Drinking Age
How strongly would you favor or oppose lowering
the minimum drinking age from 21 to 19?
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Outlets Not Careful EnoughPercent Agree
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Compliance ChecksPercent Favoring
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Penalty for Adult ProvidersPercent Favoring
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Level of support for policies affecting retail
sales
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Should we set policy priorities by level of
public support?
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Other Considerations

• Research support for policies
• Problem definition

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Factors that Influence Policy Enactment

• Public opinion
• Media coverage
• Leadership support
• Grassroots support

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Section 2 Proposals that encourage responsible
selling and serving ?
Responsible beverage service training.............
..................................................
......Page 34 Training of alcohol
servers and sellers may decrease the likelihood
that they will sell alcohol to
underage youth. Training can stress the
importance of checking all age
identification and teach servers and sellers how
to identify fake identification. ? Server
licensing.........................................
..................................................
..............Page 40 By licensing
servers and sellers of alcohol, a community can
gain additional leverage in
controlling alcohol sales to underage persons.
? Employment of minors..........................
..................................................
..................Page 43 Young people
who sell alcohol are more likely to sell to other
young people. By establishing a
minimum seller age of 18, a community can reduce
alcohol sales to young people. ?
Compliance checks/administrative
penalties.........................................
.Pages 45, 47, and 50 Some communities
feel that owners and managers of alcohol
establishments have an obligation to
make sure their employees are not selling alcohol
to underage youth. To encourage them
to monitor their employees, some communities
develop civil fines against
licensees for sales to underage individuals and
then conduct routine compliance
checks. ? Banning home alcohol
deliveries........................................
........................................Page 52
Youth may obtain alcohol more easily
through home deliveries. Alcohol sellers are more
likely to sell to underage individuals
if the sellers are young and not monitored by
their managers. ? Warning signs in
alcohol establishments............................
.........................................Page 55
Supplying alcohol to people under age 21
is a crime. Posting signs in alcohol outlets will
remind adult buyers that they are
breaking the law if they supply alcohol to people
under age 21. Draft Sample
Ordinances, June, 1995 Communities Mobilizing
for Change on Alcohol (CMCA)
Draft Sample Ordinances, June, 1995 Communities
Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA) Proposed
Model Ordinances Section 1 Proposals that reduce
social access to alcohol ? Keg
registration......................................
..................................................
.............................Page 13 Beer kegs
are marked with a unique identification number
which the alcohol retailers register along with
information about the keg purchaser. This enables
police officers to identify the adult purchaser
at parties where underage individuals are caught
drinking beer from kegs. ? Noisy
assembly..........................................
..................................................
..........................Page 18 A noise
ordinance may help police officers to control
underage drinking parties in private residences.
? Open house assembly...........................
..................................................
...............................Page 20 Some
communities have enacted ordinances that allow
communities to fine parents or other responsible
adults when underage drinking parties are held on
their property. This may encourage these adults
to monitor the youth to prevent underage drinking
parties from occurring. ? Alcohol restrictions
in certain areas..................................
..................................................
..Page 23 A common place for youth to have
alcohol parties in many communities is on public
property such as beaches, parks, and parking
lots. Communities can pass laws restricting the
use of alcohol on public property and then
encourage police to patrol these areas and
enforce these laws. ? Exterior parking lot
lighting..........................................
..................................................
......Page 25 Some youth ask adults going into
alcohol establishments to purchase alcohol for
them. Good exterior lighting makes it easier for
employees and police to identify adults who are
purchasing alcohol for underage individuals. ?
Alcohol at special events ........................
..................................................
............................Pages 27 and
30 Youth may have easy access to alcohol at
community events, obtaining it either through
friends or purchasing it themselves. Some
communities have limited youth access to alcohol
at these events by having a fenced-off drinking
area and requiring all servers athe event to
receive training. Draft Sample Ordinances, June,
1995 Communities Mobilizing for Change on
Alcohol (CMCA)

• Sample
• Ordinances
• To reduce the supply of alcohol to
• teens and young adults under age 21
• Prepared for Minnesota communities by
• Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol
  (CMCA)
• Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
• University of Minnesota
• June, 1995

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ALCOHOL COMPLIANCE CHECKS A procedure manual for
enforcing alcohol age-of-sale laws
Tools for deterring alcohol sales to Minnesotas
youth
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