We believe that underage drinking is an unrecognized epidemic, causing a public health and safety problem of major proportions for young people and society, and a costly burden on the economy. Research indicates that alcohol is a key factor in the three leading causes of death among young people in America: traffic crashes, homicides, and suicides. The average American child tries alcohol before the age of 13 and those who drink before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who start drinking at 21.

Used by young people more than any other drug including marijuana and tobacco, alcohol is the most costly of all drug problems, imposing economic costs of more than $185 billion on the nation each year and causing more than 100,000 deaths. New figures from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation estimate the economic consequences of underage drinking to California at more than $7.5 billion per year.

The San Diego County Policy Panel on Youth Access to Alcohol was formed in 1994 to address this devastating problem. The Policy Panel is a broad-based coalition of leaders from every sector of the community to prevent and reduce underage drinking. We believe that in order to truly make strides in reducing underage drinking a comprehensive, science-based environmental approach must be used. Government officials, the Legislature, and other policymakers must recognize, as we have, the powerful influences that exist within the community which contribute to underage drinking. These influences include the illegal provision of alcohol through social sources (such as friends, older siblings, parents, and other adults); illegal sales to minors; the placement and location of alcohol outlets; marketing and promotions; pricing practices; and advertising that inundate youth with the image of alcohol use as being fun and without consequence.

Therefore, members of the Policy Panel and its supporters wholeheartedly embrace the recommended strategies contained within the National Academy of Sciences landmark report on reducing underage drinking. We respectfully call on the Legislature and other policymakers to respond to this urgent public health crisis by taking action in the following areas: alcohol advertising, alcohol pricing, retail and adult accountability.

The federal government's efforts to combat illicit drugs are backed by a well-funded, cohesive, publicly articulated national drug-control strategy. That strategy is coordinated by ONDCP, an executive-department agency that reports directly to the President. Since the mid-1990s, Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to that agency, including hundreds of millions of dollars for a national youth anti-drug media campaign. Nothing remotely resembling such a concerted effort has ever existed to address underage drinking, or alcohol abuse.

These legislative changes are but one aspect of a comprehensive strategy to prevent and reduce underage drinking. However, we feel it is a critical one to help "foster a collective societal acceptance of responsibility for reducing underage drinking"… and to change "the attitudes and behaviors of adults."

Local law enforcement can better protect the health and safety of their communities by insuring that merchants do not sell alcohol to minors. Parents who provide alcohol to teens may condone it for their own children, but they're also violating the trust and wishes of other adults who do not want to normalize or sanction drinking for their children. Strong penalties need to be enforced for adults who provide alcohol to minors. It is critical to hold the host responsible for the event, liable to the city for the cost of police services, and fine the homeowner or renter who permits such a gathering to occur at his or her residence.

NATIONAL

Co-sponsor/support the "STOP Underage Drinking Act" (S. 2718 and H.R. 4888), which would:

• Improve Federal coordination and leadership
  on underage drinking prevention,
• Launch a national media campaign to educate adults about underage drinking,
• Fund community and campus efforts to prevent underage drinking, and
• Provide additional research and data collection on underage drinking
  

STATE

• Close loopholes with regard to minor-in-possession laws.
• Require all sellers and servers to alcohol to complete state-approved training as a condition of employment.
• Enact dram shop liability statutes to authorize negligence-based civil actions against commercial providers of alcohol for serving or selling alcohol to a minor who subsequently causes injury to others, while allowing a defense for sellers who have demonstrated compliance with responsible business practices.

LOCAL

• Enact social host ordinances in San Marcos, Carlsbad, and Chula Vista.
• Strengthen enforcement and adjudication of policies for detecting and terminating underage drinking parties, including responding to noise complaints, patrolling open areas where teenage drinking parties are known to occur, citing underage drinkers and the adult who provided it.
• Strengthen the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process and pass Deemed Approved ordinances within the municipalities to restrict the placement and location of alcohol outlets.
• Create local mechanisms for municipalities to recover police, fire, and emergency costs related to enforcement services as a result of responding to out-of-control drinking parties.

Studies demonstrate that increased beer prices lead to reductions in the levels and frequency of drinking and heavy drinking among youth and that higher taxes on beer are associated with lower traffic crash fatality rates, especially among young drivers. Researchers have estimated that even a small increase in the price of beer (10 cents per package of six 12 oz. cans) would reduce the number of 16- to 21-year olds who drink by approximately 11 percent, the number who drink two or three times per week by 8 percent, and the number who consume three to five cans of beer on a typical drinking day by 15 percent. Additionally, in a time of budget shortfalls and state fiscal crises, the cost of alcohol should be adjusted to help pay the costs it imposes on our public health and safety.

NATIONAL

• Congress and state legislatures should raise excise taxes to reduce underage consumption and to raise additional revenues for this purpose. Top priority should be given to raising beer taxes, and excise tax rates for all alcoholic beverages should be indexed to the consumer price index so that they keep pace with inflation without the necessity of further legislative action.

STATE

• Pass Casey's Law (Chan), which would establish a fee of ten cents ($.10) per drink on all beer and distilled spirit products sold in California except wine. Fee revenues will be distributed among the counties to reimburse the cost of publicly-funded emergency and trauma health services directly connected to alcohol consumption by consumers under the age of 21; fund existing programs for youth alcohol treatment, recovery and prevention; fund public school districts for existing youth alcohol prevention and intervention programs; law enforcement agencies to reimburse the cost of law enforcement services directly connected to alcohol consumption by consumers under the age of 21; funds to establish youth alcohol recovery and prevention centers in this state; and a statewide media campaign.

According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, youth see nearly as many TV ads for alcohol as adults - two beer ads for every three adults see. To truly combat the influence of alcohol marketing on youth, a clear, sustained counter-marketing campaign must be put into place that connects with young people and offers more realistic messages about drinking and the consequences. This counter-marketing campaign should focus on the alternatives to drinking and the consequences of alcohol abuse. Right now the dominant alcohol abuse prevention campaign is produced by the alcohol beverage industry, whose entire purpose is to sell more alcohol.

Exposure to alcohol advertising has also been found to have an effect on young people in developing favorable attitudes toward alcohol. Controls on alcohol advertising offer a powerful expression of community norms against underage alcohol use. Therefore, we propose, that in accordance with the committee's recommendations the following should occur to address alcohol advertising:

NATIONAL

• Appropriate the necessary funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor underage exposure to alcohol advertising on a continuing basis and to report periodically to Congress and the public.
• Appropriate the necessary funds to enable the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a periodic review of a representative sample of movies, television programs, and music recordings and videos that are offered at time or in venues likely to have a significant youth audience (e.g., 15 percent) to ascertain the nature and frequency of lyrics or images pertaining to alcohol. The results of these reviews should be reported to Congress and the public.

STATE

• The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) should be given more authority to regulate attractive packaging of alcoholic beverages.
• The sale, offering for sale, distribution, or import into this state of any gelatin-based alcoholic beverage such as Zippershots® and similar products should be prohibited.

Traditional efforts to reduce underage drinking have focused on youth education and prevention techniques, but research shows that this has only had limited success. The National Academy of Sciences landmark report is a wake-up call to the real dangers of the underage drinking epidemic, and is the first step to creating a comprehensive, national plan to combat underage drinking. The report validates the work of the Policy Panel and will help support the environmental strategies utilized by the San Diego County Underage Drinking Initiative. We seek to galvanize community action and believe that government has an indispensable role to play in our efforts to prevent and reduce underage drinking.