Underage Drinking Prevention Strategies

Following is a description of a variety of prevention strategies that are categorized according to the risk and protective factor framework.

Community Based Strategies (CB)

Underage drinking community based prevention strategies need to address the following issues. Organizations with limited resources will need to determine which strategies are most important and prioritize these activities.

1. Reduce access to alcohol.
2. Establish community laws and norms that disapprove of underage drinking.
3. Increase awareness about the nature and extent of underage drinking.
4. Mobilize communities to develop neighborhoods where atmosphere, appearance, and safety are important.
5. Increase supervision of young people.
6. Provide opportunities for youth to contribute to the community.

The following are “best practices” or suggested strategies for preventing underage drinking. Again, it will be necessary to prioritize based on available resources. Many of these strategies are discussed in greater detail in the Community How To Guides on Underage Drinking Enforcement, Public Policy and Media Relations. There is a wealth of data and information that supports the effectiveness of these strategies and practices.

CB 1  Reduce access to alcohol

• Limit the hours of sale or number of licensees (universal)

  Availability is a great predictor of alcohol use. If large numbers of alcohol outlets are located in a given area, alcohol-related problems will generally increase. Communities that need to control the general availability of alcohol — to adults and to youth — can implement licensing and control strategies including limiting hours of sale or the number of licensees in an area, pass laws that limit the age of servers and other prevention strategies.

• Compliance checks (also known as “stings” or decoy operations) (universal)

  Compliance checks with law enforcement and alcohol beverage control agencies can “check” the sales policy and practices of stores, bars, restaurants and hotels that sell alcohol. Conducting these checks and publicizing the findings has proven to reduce sales of alcohol to minors.

• “Cops in Shops” and similar programs (universal)

  “Cops in Shops” programs work in cooperation with vendors to place law enforcement officers, liquor agents, or inspectors in stores to pose as clerks. The officer trains the clerk(s) to detect false, altered, or fraudulent identification and if a minor attempts to purchase alcohol, the law enforcement officer cites the minor.

• Third party, shoulder tap and “Mister, Will You?” programs (universal)

  Shoulder-tap or “Mister, will you…?” programs are designed to discourage adults from buying for youth and to discourage young people from asking adults to buy for them.

• Adult responsibility laws (universal)

  States or local jurisdictions can enact laws to hold adults, who are in charge of the premises, responsible for any illegal drinking which takes place while they are present. They can also vigorously enforce laws related to providing alcohol for minors or contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

• Server/seller training (universal)

  Server/seller training educates merchants on their legal responsibilities and on effective techniques for controlling sales to minors and to individuals who are intoxicated. This education is most effective when used in conjunction with compliance checks. The fact sheet, Preventing Sales of Alcohol to Minors: What You Should Know About Merchant Education Programs, developed for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program has several recommendations such as educational programs for merchants that includes information about laws and penalties, information indicating the importance of avoiding sales to minors to protect the health and well-being of the entire community, an emphasis on proper management techniques, information on how to recognize fake IDs, and tips on how to refuse a sale safely and comfortably.

  The Maryland Hospitality Education Foundation developed a special “young adult server training” that includes tips for young people who may feel intimidated by their friends or by older, intoxicated customers. The classes provide information on how to avoid confrontation and peer pressure as well as management skills and responsible alcohol service. The training involves off-sale and package good establishments, hotels, country clubs, caterers, and restaurants.

• Consistent penalties for merchants who break the law (selective)

  Citing clerks and shop owners who break the law is only effective if serious consequences are imposed by the board of license commissioners, liquor board, or other alcohol licensing authority.

• Dram shop liability laws for sales to minors (universal)

  Dram shop liability laws hold merchants accountable when intoxicated drivers they serve cause crashes after leaving their establishment.

• Keg registration laws (universal)

  Keg registration laws require that an adult who takes a keg out of an alcohol outlet must fill out a form that contains their name, address, and other information. Although keg registration offers enforcement agencies an additional tool, it is primarily designed to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors by discouraging adults from providing kegs for minors and by making it less attractive for youth to attempt to secure kegs by presenting fake IDs.

CB 2  Establish community laws and norms that disapprove of underage drinking.

• Zero tolerance laws (universal)

  Every state has now passed some version of “zero tolerance” legislation that sets a blood alcohol limit for youth in that state which is lower than the blood alcohol limits set for adults in the state. These “zero tolerance” laws can be very effective in reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes among youth if they are vigorously enforced and well publicized.

• Alcohol enforcement units or special “party patrols” (universal)

  Party patrols and other enforcement strategies to break up parties and cite the youth involved signal strong community disapproval of underage drinking and seek to reduce the opportunities for drinking. Publicizing these efforts helps to build awareness of the underage drinking problem and the efforts underway to curb it.

• End alcohol-industry sponsorship of, and prohibit or restrict, alcohol sales at public events such as fairs, festivals, sporting events, etc. (universal)

  In many communities, local beer distributors or manufacturers sponsor events for adults and youth. Some communities have been successful in preventing alcohol-industry sponsorship of large sports activities. The Troy Community Coalition in Troy, Michigan learned that an alcohol-industry-sponsored sports event was scheduled for their town and succeeded in preventing the activity from taking place until alternate sponsors could be recruited.

  Alcohol sales at large public events are also popular and many are poorly monitored. Minors often find it easy to obtain alcohol and the large numbers of people drinking sometimes leads to fighting, rowdiness, vandalism, and impaired driving as people leave the scene. Ending or closely monitoring alcohol sales at these events demonstrates the community’s strong disapproval of illegal underage drinking and irresponsible adult drinking and may also help to reduce access to alcohol and related problems.

  In Washington, D.C., organizers of the city’s Latino Festival decided to eliminate alcohol service and sales at the Festival after episodes of alcohol-related violence. Although some people in the community predicted that the Festival would lose sponsors and participants if alcohol was banned, the Festival has continued to flourish since alcohol was eliminated and attendees have reported that they feel safer than they did when alcohol was served and sold at the event.

• Restrict billboards and other forms of alcohol advertising (universal)

  Billboards, advertising on bus backs and sides and in bus shelters, and banners and placards to advertise alcohol in public places are widespread in many communities and often are especially prevalent in minority communities and near schools. In recognition of the fact that exposure to these advertising tools has been demonstrated to affect attitudes towards using alcohol, many communities are enacting ordinances or laws to restrict billboards and other forms of advertising.

  The Coalition Against Billboard Advertising of Alcohol and Tobacco (CABAAT) in Detroit, Michigan targeted the issue of alcohol advertising. One of their activities was to conduct a survey of the number of billboards in the city and publicize the number that advertised alcohol. The media was used to publicize their findings as well as publicize the harm these ads were causing in the community.

• Fake ID laws (selective)

  Enforcing laws about possessing, using, manufacturing, and selling fake IDs can signal the community’s strong disapproval and may curtail the availability and use of the IDs.

  ýThe RAAM (Reducing Alcohol Availability to Minors) in Ocean City, Maryland targets ID checks in the stores and has enlisted cooperation from landlords for evicting underage drinkers during “Beach Week,” a high risk time for underage drinking. The result has been a decrease in alcohol-related deaths.

• Sobriety checkpoints (selective)

  Although police may actually arrest only a few impaired drivers during individual sobriety èheckpoints, checkpoints have been demonstrated to be very effective in reducing crashes and impaired driving. Well-publicized checkpoints also help to express the community disapproval of impaired driving and underage drinking.

• >Use/lose laws (indicated)

  ýIn some jurisdictions, youth who are cited or arrested for drinking may lose their driving privileges or be subject to other penalties through the motor vehicle administration, juvenile courts, or juvenile justice administration. Local prevention organizations can work to ensure that appropriate penalties exist and are consistently used.

• Diversion programs (indicated)

  Diversion programs are designed to keep underage drinking cases from clogging the justice system and to provide needed rehabilitation without giving the young person a criminal record. They are especially appropriate because of the large percent of underage drinkers who can benefit from substance abuse and/or mental health treatment. It will be necessary to develop at least two programs, one for juveniles (under age 18 in most states) and one for older offenders (18-20 years of age, in most states).

• A court watch program (indicated)

  A court watch program is a tool that can be used by community groups in finding out the disposition of underage drinking cases. They can also be used to engage the justice system in an underage drinking effort. A court watch is appropriate when:

• Information is not available on what is happening to offenders.
• It is necessary to draw attention to what is happening to offenders.
• Attention is needed to the connection between alcohol and other offenses.

Special permission will need to be granted to attend a juvenile hearing since most are not open to the public.

Appendix #2 includes Tips on Establishing Diversion and Court Watch Programs supplied by the Combating Underage Drinking Program in Maryland. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) also has information on establishing a court watch program.