Underage drinking is a serious issue and can result in risky behavior, car crashes, memory loss, sexual assault, alcohol poisoning, legal problems and death.
One way that GUIDE, Inc. (Gwinnett United in Drug Education) addresses underage drinking in our community is reducing teen access to retail alcohol by partnering with the Gwinnett County Police Department to conduct routine compliance check sweeps.
Compliance checks make sure that alcohol establishments and their employees are properly checking IDs of anyone who is buying and/or being served alcohol, preventing sales of alcohol to those under 21. When alcohol retailers are in compliance, it reduces access to alcohol and serves as a reminder to adults that providing alcohol to underage youth is illegal. Research shows that “shifting norms and reducing access to alcohol impacts the rates of high-risk drinking in addition to related problems among youth and adults” (Health Community Consortium, 2006).
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To conduct the compliance checks, youth under 21 serve as decoys and order an alcoholic drink at a restaurant or attempt to buy alcohol at a licensed store. In the past three months, April–June, 10 establishments were checked in Snellville. The compliance rate during this time was 90%, which means that 1 out of 10 retailers sold alcohol to the underage decoy.
Thank you to ALL of the following businesses that practiced responsible alcohol sales and did NOT sell alcohol to the underage decoy:
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Chevron Food Mart, 2991 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Chevron Food Mart, 3750 Lenora Church Rd, Snellville
Discount Tobacco, 2671 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Ingles, 3303 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Lenora Exxon Food Mart, 4116 Lenora Church Rd, Snellville
Rite Aid, 3295 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Shell Food Mart, 3283 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Valero Fast Mart, 3730 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
Walgreens, 3505 Centerville Hwy, Snellville
It is their commitment to training of their employees and their policies that prevented the underage sales of alcohol.
We commend YOU. Keep up the great work!
GUIDE, Inc. (Gwinnett United in Drug Education) and Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human services collaborate with Gwinnett County Police Department in these prevention activities because we care about young people in our community and want to keep them safe and healthy.
GUIDE, Inc. is a substance abuse prevention agency serving Gwinnett County since 1986. To find out more about us, please connect with us at guidegti.wordpress.com.
References:
Health Community Consortium. (2006). An issue briefing: The Petaluma social host ordinance. Petaluma Coalition to Prevent Underage & High-Risk Drinking, 1(2). Retrieved from http://marylandcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SHO_Issue_Brief_71-28-06_final-3.pdf
