How to avoid selling alcohol to underage consumers

Over the recent holidays, police in some communities made an extra effort to enforce laws against underage drinking, an endeavor that often includes the targeting of retailers, including convenience stores.

For example, the Sheriff’s Department in Lyon County, Nevada, in conjunction with the Enforcing Under Age Drinking Laws (EUDL) project, completed alcohol stings in Dayton, Nev., on Dec. 19, according to the Dayton Courier.
The Sheriff's Department used underage decoys who were observed as they entered local businesses and attempted to purchase alcohol. Four local businesses were checked. The only business to pass the alcohol sting was the Dayton Valley Gas and Liquor Mart, according to the newspaper.
The businesses that failed the alcohol stings were corner stores where clerks sold beer or malt liquor to minors, according to the newspaper. The clerks received a misdemeanor citation; the citations carry a fine in the amount of $1,132, according to the newspaper.
Retailers seeking information and guidance in how to work with their communities to avoid selling alcohol to underage consumers can visit the Web site of the UDETC at udetc.org.

The mission of the Center is to build leadership and increase the effectiveness of states and local communities in their efforts to enforce underage drinking laws, prevent underage drinking, and eliminate the consequences associated with alcohol use by underage youth, according to the Center’s Web site. The Center provides a wide variety of training and technical assistance services.

The Center is part of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, Md.
Available through the Center is a publication titled How do we know we are making a difference? A community substance abuse indicators handbook.

The handbook was developed in part by the Institute for Health Policy at
Brandeis University, and it has been used by community groups nationwide to evaluate activities focused on preventing and reducing harm from substance use, according to the Center.

Indicators are data that help measure the impact of substance use in a
community. Regular reporting using indicators has become an effective and
important tool for evaluating community efforts to reduce substance use, according to the Center, which also states on its Web site that such reporting “helps promote community action.”

For example, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has produced a “Rating the States” survey designed to report national and state progress on policies intended to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. MADD developed and released its first Rating the States Survey Report in 1991, followed by reports in 1993, 1996,
1999, and 2002, according to the Center’s Web site. These report cards helped raise public awareness of state drunk driving policies, according to the Center’s Web site, and contributed to the adoption of .08 BAC (blood alcohol content) laws in all 50 states.