Underage drinking occurs more frequently at family gatherings
WHAT: Teens and young adults encourage their peers to participate in a community forum to learn how they can be the solution to prevent underage drinking. North Coastal Prevention Coalition’s (NCPC) young adult and teen volunteers will co-facilitate the event featuring speakers who will address both the biological and tragic consequences that can result from underage drinking. Those who attend the forum will receive free food and refreshments while supplies last. The event will also include interactive activities and prizes throughout the forum and through Instagram giveaways. You can follow the event and activities on Instagram @whatis_SUPP.
As high schools and local colleges prepare for spring break, this forum serves as an important reminder for the community to plan responsibly for parties and celebrations so that minors do not have access to alcohol. Information and resources for both parents and students will be available to learn about current trends in alcohol use and local social host ordinances, driving under the influence and vehicle crashes, and the impacts of alcohol and marijuana use on adolescent brain development.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: AVO Playhouse, 303 Main St, Vista, CA 92084
WHO:
Welcome & Moderators:
• College student volunteers from NCPC’s Sober Truth On Preventing Underage Drinking committee
• High school student volunteers from Rancho Buena Vista’s Public Policy Club
Panelists:
• Jacob Wallis, father of ‘Baby Izaiah’
• Jaime Figueroa, program manager for the Resilience Community Mentoring Program
• Joanna Jacobus, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Diego
WHY:
• While 84 percent of respondents do NOT provide alcohol to minors, those who do say family gatherings are the most common setting where minors are provided alcohol (NCPC STOP Young Adult Survey 2018, n=312).
• Over half of young adults believe underage drinking is a problem in their community. (NCPC STOP Young Adult Survey 2018).
• 63 percent of respondents believe young adults (21-25) will ‘get in trouble’ by law enforcement for providing alcohol to minors. (NCPC STOP Young Adult Survey 2018).
• The most common sources of alcohol for teens are parties and events outside of school and friends and other teens (CA Healthy Kids Survey, Vista Unified, 2016-17).
• Preventing alcohol abuse starts at a young age. Underage drinkers are up to four times more likely to develop alcohol dependency than those who wait until the legal drinking age of 21. Youth drink too early, too much and too often (www.stopalcoholabuse.gov).
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It is illegal to provide a place where minors have access to alcohol. “Social hosts” are subject to fines of up to $1,000 and/or jail up to six months.
Party hosts can avoid citations by: verifying the age of all guests, controlling access to alcohol to those under 21, and supervising minors (http://www.sdsheriff.net/social-host/).
• Of the more than 400 “Social Host” citations written countywide between 2008 and 2014, the vast majority (69 percent) were issued to young adults (aged 18-25), and another 15 percent were written to juveniles under the age of 18.
