NCJ Number
193819
Date Published
1995
Length
76 pages
Annotation
Ten case studies describe current State efforts considered by each State to be particularly effective or promising in preventing underage drinking of alcoholic beverages; these strategies were selected to represent a broad range of efforts to prevent underage drinking throughout the country.
Abstract
The States represented are North Dakota, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington, Maryland, California, Minnesota, and Ohio. North Dakota's network of community traffic safety programs demonstrates how a State Highway Safety Agency and a single State Authority for Alcohol and Drug Abuse can achieve the common objective of supporting local alternative activities with no duplication of effort. The New York program features professional athletes and extensive youth involvement in a 14-year effort of mentoring and education designed to prevent underage drinking. New Jersey's efforts to maintain alcohol-free and smoke-free residential facilities and entertainment centers are at the core of a distinctive initiative to prevent underage drinking by college students. Massachusetts' State-initiated alcohol awareness seminars focus on the detection of underage patrons at drinking establishments as well as liability protection through the systematic involvement of and support from public and private sectors at the local level. Virginia is at the national forefront in detecting the use of fraudulent identifications used in underage drinking, as it uses digitized imaging for drivers' licenses. Washington State's media campaign challenges the parents of young children to talk to their children about alcohol while they are young; and Maryland's Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition incorporates a variety of strategies for reducing underage drinking, ranging from influencing public police and collecting and disseminating information to increasing knowledge about available alcohol-free activities for youth. California's Teenwork has a long history as an effective statewide youth conference in which youth participate in the planning and implementation of the conference. Minnesota has a long history of using peer-to-peer, cross-age teaching to foster healthy decision-making by teens; and Ohio has a flexible public information campaign that can be inserted within local community prevention programming or be used as an independent campaign. All programs are considered replicable in other States and jurisdictions. Appended program contacts and resources