New Underage Drinking Law Holds Parents, Adults Accountable for Underage Drinking House Parties

To: FAMILY EDITORS

Contact: Michelle Blackston of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, +1-301-755-2444, Mobile: +1-301-523-9921, mblackston@pire.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Across the country, laws are being passed to put an end to the underage drinking parties in which adults provide the booze. Alcohol kills 6.5 times more young people than all illegal drugs combined. It’s a factor in nearly half of all teen car crashes and up to 65 percent of teen suicides. It’s linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes of teens and college students. And most underage drinking happens at somebody’s house, a house that’s invariably owned by an adult.

These so-called “Social Host Ordinances” recently made national headlines as more and more communities want to hold adults and property owners accountable for out-of-control underage drinking parties causing a disturbance. In Ventura County, California, people having unruly underage drinking parties will be fined $1,000 if law enforcement is called to break it up. If they are called again to the same property with the same host within a year, the person can be forced to pay for the cost of police services.

PIRE legal policy research and lawyer Stacy Saetta developed the model Social Host Ordinance being used in Ventura County as well as other communities across the country. Currently, cities and counties in Oregon, Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico and Nevada are considering similar laws. Legislation recently passed in communities in Oklahoma, New Jersey and Wisconsin, among others.

“It’s not an attempt to stop all parties, just the ones where underage drinking occurs,” said Stacy Saetta, legal policy researcher with PIRE’s Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy in Felton. “The law will serve as a deterrent rather than a punishment. Because of the civil penalties involved, parents and other adults will think twice before opening their homes to underage drinkers.”

Another effort to promote Social Host Ordinances as a way to prevent underage drinking is the campaign “Not In Our House.” This program, developed in partnership with the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness (IIAA), The Century Council, and Scholastic, was launched in October 2006 in schools across all 50 states. The educational format teaches adults about the civil and criminal liabilities of providing alcohol to underage youth.

Background on Stacy Saetta

Stacy Saetta is a Legal Policy Researcher and Associate Research Scientist at the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy at PIRE (Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation). She conducts legal analyses of alcohol-related statutes and regulations across State and Federal jurisdictions, best practices analysis of alcohol-related legal provisions and best practices analysis of enforcement practices.

She also develops model laws on social host liability and other underage drinking policies. Ms. Saetta assists in the development of the Alcohol Policy Information System, an electronic resource on alcohol-related policies, developed under contract for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Because of her expertise on underage drinking laws, Ms. Saetta is a regular guest speaker before public health organizations, policymakers, judges, and law enforcement groups.

An attorney admitted to the California and New York bars since 1985, she brings to her work her law firm expertise in employment law, school law, civil litigation, and civil and criminal appeals and writs.

Issue background:

For an overview of a social host law, see the Ventura model ordinance on social host liability for the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department. http://www.venturacountylimits.org/ vcl_mshl_jan06.pdf.

Hosting Underage Drinking Parties policy at the NIAAA website called Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS). http:// www.apis.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?SEC={8BECDA97-22E1-4D4F-9CAA- F70CA490CE27}&Type=BAS_APIS

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine issued its seminal report: National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, Committee on Developing a Strategy to Reduce and Prevent Underage Drinking. Bonnie, R.J., and O’Connell, M.E., eds. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2004. Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/books/ 0309089352/html.

In its report, the National Academies Institute of Medicine urged state and local governments to enact a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce underage consumption. These strategies include strengthening social host liability laws to deter underage drinking parties and other gatherings.

PIRE, or Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, is a national nonprofit public health research institute with centers in eight U.S. cities that is supported primarily by federal and state research and program funds. Contact Michelle Blackston at 301-755- 2444 or mblackston@pire.orgto arrange an interview with Stacy Saetta regarding local or regional social host ordinances.

SOURCE Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

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