The most documented effective principle in alcohol use prevention is: Make it harder for young people to get alcohol, and they will drink less. Whether you are a policymaker at the local, State, or national level, you can help enact and support policies that prevent the availability of alcohol to young people who are below the minimum drinking age.
In this section, you will find questions to ask yourself about alcohol policies and prevention strategies, as well as resources that include useful publications and helpful organizations. For additional information, see also Information For You, Law Enforcement.
As a policymaker, ask yourself these questions. Keep in mind that you may have different answers based on whether you are answering in regard to your State, your county, or your city.
- Does your State, county, or city have regulations to restrict the commercial availability of alcohol to underage youth? Are they effectively enforced?
- Does your State, county, or city have regulations to restrict the non-commercial availability of alcohol to underage youth? Are they effectively enforced?
- Does your State, county, or city have regulations to prevent youth possession of alcohol? Are they effectively enforced?
- Are members of the educational system (public and private), the business sector, youth serving agencies, government, and law enforcement agencies in your State, county, or city working together to develop and enforce policies related to underage alcohol use?
Prevention Strategies
- Register kegs. Keg parties can be gathering sites for large groups of underage drinkers. Keg registration links each keg with its purchaser’s ID. Authorities can use the keg ID to trace the person responsible and apply appropriate penalties.
- Train and license servers and sellers. In many States and jurisdictions, alcohol licensees and their employees must undergo training as a condition of doing business. This training often includes instruction in the importance of checking IDs, and seller and employee liability when sales are made to minors.
- Implement compliance checks. Compliance checks can show whether sellers and servers of alcohol are obeying minimum age laws. A decoy (an individual who is underage or looks underage) attempts an alcohol purchase using no ID or a false ID. If a sale is made, the police can take appropriate action against the seller.
- Control the number of alcohol outlets. Large numbers of outlets make it easier to buy alcohol and make alcohol a more visible part of the environment. Communities can control the number of alcohol outlets through planning and zoning ordinances and by using conditional use permits.
- Restrict home delivery. More than half of the Nation’s States allow home delivery of alcohol. However, jurisdictions can forbid or restrict home delivery of alcohol to prevent underage alcohol sales. If communities choose not to ban home deliveries of alcohol, they can require that delivery people record the purchaser’s ID.
The above strategies appear in the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free prevention booklet. For more information on science-based prevention strategies, click on Keep Kids Alcohol Free: Strategies for Action .
