Prohibit Commercial Sales of Alcohol to Underage Youth

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Reduce Availability: Introduction

Strategies and Approaches to Reduce Availability

What Communities Can Do

What Parents Can Do

What Agencies Can Do

What Schools Can Do

Strategies & Approaches › Reduce Availability › Prohibit Commercial Sales of Alcohol to Underage Youth

Prohibit Commercial Sales of Alcohol to Underage Youth

In 1984, Congress enacted the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This law requires that a portion of Federal highway funds be withheld from any States that do not prohibit persons under 21 years of age from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1987 that Congress was within constitutional bounds in attaching such conditions to the receipt of Federal funds to encourage uniformity in States' drinking ages. By 1988, every State had passed legislation to meet the Federal funding requirements. Yet, the enforcement of this law is inconsistent. Even today, may underage youth get alcohol using fake IDs or from adults who do not ask them for identification when purchasing alcohol.

Issue

A group of high school friends regularly gets into a local bar using fake IDs.

Strategy

Businesses that sell alcohol beverages must take stronger measures to ensure that youth access to alcohol is prohibited. The following are several strategies that businesses and law enforcement can take to limit commercial sales of alcohol to youth:

Require positive ID from people purchasing alcohol;
Impose fines and penalties on stores that sell to minors;
Prohibit people under age 21 from entering bars and nightclubs; and
Require all alcohol servers and sellers to be at least 21 years old.

These laws are typically enforced through vendor education programs, police patrolling of establishments where liquor is sold, and compliance checks using trained police cadets or volunteers who are—or appear to be—underage.

For additional strategies and approaches for changing policies, see the following:

What You Can Do: Community
What You Can Do: Parents
What You Can Do: Agencies
What You Can Do: Schools

References:
Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

L Underage Drinking in California: California Town Hall Meetings. Community Prevention Institute. March, 2006. Available at: http://www.adp.cahwnet.gov/Prevention/townhall/pdf/CA%20Underage%20Drinking%20Survey%20Data%20Report.pdf. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG, and Schulenberg JE. 2006. Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2005. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Bonnie, R.J. & M.E. O’Connell (eds). 2003. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.

A Guide to Zero Tolerance and Graduated Licensing: Two Strategies that Work. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Available at: http://www.udetc.org/documents/Guide2zero.pdf#search=%22a%20guide%20to%20zero%20tolerance%20and%20graduated%20licensing%22. Accessed on [09/06/06]

Drinking in America: Myths, Realities, and Prevention Policy. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.udetc.org/documents/Drinking_in_America.pdf. Accessed on [09/05/06]

The Relationship Between Alcohol Availability and Injury and Crime. Available at: http://www.alcoholpolicymd.com/alcohol_and_health/alc_availability.htm. Accessed on [01/09/06]

Alcohol Restrictions at Community Events. Alcohol Epidemiology Program. University of Minnesota. Available at: http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/policy/atevents.shtm. Accessed on [08/29/06]

Wagenaar AC, Harwood EM, Toomey TL, Denk CE, Zander KM. 2000. Public opinion on alcohol policies in the United States: Results from a national survey. Journal of Public Health Policy, 21(3):303-27.

Highlight on Underage Drinking. Alcohol Policy Information System. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Available at: http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BDA5E054D-FB8E-4F06-BBBC-6EED9F37A758%7D. Accessed on [09/08/06]

Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Alcohol Home Delivery Restrictions. Alcohol Epidemiology Program. University of Minnesota. Available at: http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/policy/homdeliv.shtm. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Alcohol Epidemiology Program. Alcohol compliance checks: A procedures
manual for enforcing alcohol age-of-sale laws. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2000.

Shoulder Tap Program. 2003. Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Available at: http://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/Shoulder_tap.html. Accessed on [09/06/06]

A Practical Guide to Preventing and Dispersing Underage Drinking Parties. 2005. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation: Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.