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INTRODUCTION Underage possession and use of alcohol has become a serious social problem augmented by the fact that alcohol is a legal drug over the age 21. For many, use of alcohol is socially acceptable and often perceived as a rite of passage. Many high school students and most college students “drink alcohol at least occasionally, and many drink frequently and heavily. They can get alcohol for free or at low prices, which contributes to their drinking at levels that significantly increase their risk of negative alcohol-related consequences.”1 Communities throughout the country are recognizing the need to address the issue of underage possession of alcohol for several reasons: 1) it poses potentially serious health risks for the youth themselves; 2) it increases safety risks for the youth and community-at-large; and not least, 3) it is against the law.
“Underage drinkers experience a wide range of alcohol-related health, social, criminal justice, and academic problems,” including “overconfidence and recklessness,” “lack of awareness,” “aggression,” and “loss of control.”2 Results of these effects include “property damage, rape, and other violent crime,” as well as “drunken driving, speeding in residential areas, cruising, disorderly conduct in public places, assaults in and around bars, acquaintance rape, house parties, rave parties, vandalism, and noise complaints in residential areas.” In addition, high school and college students “who drink heavily are more likely to miss class, fall behind in school, sustain an injury, have unplanned or unprotected sex, drive after drinking, or have contact” with police.3 Research also documents physical and mental health consequences of alcohol use. |
Young people report believing “that drinking will make it easier to be part of a group, reduce tension, relieve stress, help them to forget their worries, increase their sexual attractiveness, or make them more socially confident.”4 As important, young people who do not drink at all, or who drink at minimal levels do so from a combination of factors: attachment (“strong ties to family, friends, and significant others”); commitment (invested “in conventional activities such as studying, working, taking part in organized religion, and/or participating in clubs or athletics”); and belief (“young people who accept conventional values, obey society’s rules, and respect authority”).5 Research documents that “minimum-drinking-age laws have been very effective in reducing many of the harms associated with underage drinking, such as traffic fatalities and alcohol-related injuries, as well as assaults and other crimes.”6
1 Johnson, Kelly Dedel (2004). Underage Drinking. Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice, September 2004, p. 1. |
