|
Introduction to the Problem Once considered a normal adolescent "rite of passage", underage drinking is slowly becoming understood as a vast and complex public health problem. As the number one drug of choice for young people, more than ten million of our nation's drinkers are between the ages of 12-20. Of these young drinkers, 20% engage in binge drinking and 6% are heavy drinkers. On average, young people begin drinking at the age of 13 years old. By the time they are high school seniors, more than 80% have used alcohol and 62% have been drunk. The consequences are devastating. Alcohol is a factor in the three leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24, which are motor vehicle crashes, homicide, and suicide. Young people who begin drinking before the age of fifteen are four more times likely to develop a problem with alcohol or to use illicit substances than those who begin drinking at 21. Underage drinking costs taxpayers 58 billion dollars annually. The cost to California is 6.5 billion dollars a year. There is a direct relationship between alcohol and violence. Four in ten violent offenders report having been drinking when they committed their crimes. One third of the individuals who are murdered or die of injuries are legally drunk at the time of death. In 1999 1,124 San Diego County juveniles were arrested for misdemeanor alcohol-related offenses and two-thirds of those booked into Juvenile Hall had been drinking within three days of their arrest. Adolescents are coming of age in a society where alcohol is widely and increasingly available. Alcoholic beverages are promoted and sold in ways that glamorize drinking and conceal the damage it can do, and the legal drinking age is difficult to enforce (especially at private parties and public events) due to loopholes in the law. Too many adults are blind to the consequences of giving young people access to alcohol. Many parents espouse the damaging concept of "safe drinking" by providing alcohol to their minor sons, daughters, and friends in a controlled setting. In San Diego County, underage drinking is magnified by a lifestyle attractive to young people in some of our beach communities and by the lure of a lower legal drinking age in Mexico. Propitiously, there are promising strategies to reduce underage drinking. Research shows that we must implement a comprehensive approach to reducing alcohol problems by changing the physical, social, economic and legal environment in which alcohol is made available. Effective policy, based on a public health model, can be a powerful tool in our society's effort to prevent underage alcohol use. Proposed Legislative Measures Strategic Issues Government agencies need to work together to formulate a strategic plan on underage drinking that would implement a concerted, comprehensive design to include: National - sustained and designated funding for SCIENCE-BASED environmental strategies. State Alcohol Advertising Exposure to alcohol advertising has been found to have a profound effect on young people developing favorable attitudes toward alcohol. Controls on alcohol advertising offer a powerful expression of community norms against underage alcohol use. Communities, businesses and agencies (non-government and government alike) need to work together to formulate a strategic plan that would implement a concerted, comprehensive design to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol advertising which includes: National State Local Alcohol Availability Research demonstrates that controls on alcohol availability can affect the level of youth alcohol consumption in communities and related problems. Government agencies need to work together to formulate a strategic plan on underage drinking that would implement a concerted, comprehensive design to include: State Local
Legislative Proposals Related to Alcohol Availability Research demonstrates that controls on alcohol availability will reduce youth alcohol consumption and related problems in communities. According to OJJDP, strategies that limit youth access to alcohol are some of the most powerful and well-documented approaches to reducing underage drinking and related problems. Research also indicates that young people have no difficulty obtaining alcohol through social sources, such as parents, friends or older siblings. Enforcement is an important part of controlling availability. The Legislature recently passed AB 1298, which provides an alcohol license fee increase, the first increase in over thirty years. This bill will generate revenues for the ABC for enforcement. Law Enforcement, however, still needs support to reduce youth access via social availability. Social Host Laws Research indicates that teen parties constitute one of the highest risk settings for youth alcohol problems. Young people report their heaviest drinking with peers during these times. With or without adult supervision these parties often provide treacherous scenarios of violence, drinking-driving, unwanted sexual activity and assaults, and vandalism. We need to provide law enforcement with the support and resources to intervene on these parties. Cases need to be adjudicated and adult providers held accountable. OJJDP recommends prohibiting any gathering in a private residence of five or more persons under age 21, when at least one of who possesses alcohol. Also, to hold the host responsible for the event liable to the city for the cost of police services and fines for the homeowner or renter who permits such a gathering to occur at his or her residence. We propose that the legislature enact social host laws that would allow people to be held criminally and/or civilly liable for providing alcohol to underage youth, or who knowingly allow underage drinking in their home. Minor In Possession Some communities and states have successfully added the act of consuming alcohol to current laws that prohibit minors from possessing alcohol. For example, Nebraska's Legislative Bill (LB) 114 clarifies that any minor who knowingly and intentionally ingests alcohol, regardless of the location, be charged with consuming alcohol, arrested. The bill also requires that parents be notified. We propose that the legislature amend wording to close loopholes in minor-in-possession laws. * Section 25658 of the Business & Professions code currently states "any person under the age of 21 years who consumes any alcoholic beverage in any on-sale premises, is guilty of a misdemeanor." * Section 25662 of the Business & Professions code ambiguously states that (a) Any person under the age of 21 years who has any alcoholic beverage in his or her possession on any street or highway or in any public place or in any place open to the public is guilty of a misdemeanor. The code should clearly prohibit possession regardless of the location and also prohibit any person from furnishing alcohol to a minor with the possible exception of allowing adult parents to serve alcohol to their own children, but not to others. * We would also like a change to 25662 (b) that currently states that alcohol may be seized only when 10 or more persons under the age of 21 years are participating in underage drinking. Sales to Minors Sales to minors have decreased greatly with the advent of strong laws of deterrence and the voluntary compliance of alcohol retailers. Many do not know, however, that the law does not require employee training for the responsible sale and service of alcoholic beverages. The licensee is generally held accountable except in the home delivery of alcohol (such as occurs with pizza delivery). Law enforcement use sting operations to check retail establishments. In a home delivery decoy operation, however, the burden of compliance is on the delivery person and not the licensee. Therefore, to help hold the licensee accountable we'd like to request that the Legislature: Amend Rule 141 of the California Code and Regulations to allow face-to-face identification of alcohol purchases during a minor decoy operation that would hold licensees accountable if alcohol is delivered to an underage person. Alcohol Excise Tax According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, three main rationales have been advanced to support increases in alcohol excise taxes: 1.
raising revenue Research by Michael Grossman and Douglas Coate of the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that even modest price increases -- 30 cents for a bottle of liquor and 10 cents for a six-pack of beer -- would decrease drinking among young people as much as raising the drinking age by one year. Other studies by Coate
and Grossman indicate "that if beer taxes had kept pace with inflation
since 1951, and if taxes on beer and spirits had been set at equivalent
levels, the number of youths who drink beer four to seven times a week
would have declined by 32 percent and the number of youths who drink beer
one to three times per week would have declined by 24 percent." Some states such as
Arkansas, Ohio, Oregon, Washington have earmarked alcohol tax revenue
specifically to combat alcohol problems through treatment, prevention,
and law enforcement or alcohol research, alcoholic-beverages control offices,
local governments. Arizona earmarks more than one-third of its liquor tax revenue for the state corrections fund. Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas are among those states that provided a portion of alcohol revenues for alcohol education and prevention programs. We propose that the Legislature increase the price of alcohol through excise taxes. The revenue generated by the excise tax would be used for science-based prevention, evaluation, and counter-advertising. Additionally, revenues could be used for youth recovery centers, a statewide system of law enforcement data collection, increased funding for ABC, science-based prevention, and evaluation. Within the area of
underage drinking, there is a range of possible programs, strategies,
initiatives, and campaigns. We need leadership to help direct efforts
into the most productive strategies. Communities need the resources to
help implement the most effective strategies and they need the backing
of policymakers and government officials to implement strategies that
focus on changing the environment of the community. |