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| 2 March 2001 - The San Diego Union-Tribune Attempting to limit underage drinking By Jim Daniels and Tony Dixon On March 30, 2000, 15-year-old Francisco Isais Jr. was drinking beer and vodka in a vacant lot. He then tried to cross the trolley tracks walking between two cars. He never made it across. "They wanted me to identify my son by looking at a picture," said the father, Francisco Sr., remembering the phone call telling him his son was dead. I could not even speak." Francisco's death is not the only one in San Diego County. On July 5, 1999, a 19-year-old male placed his bottle of vodka on the sand and walked into the ocean. He drowned. On New Year's Eve 1999, a 20-year-old female from New York visiting her cousin in San Diego went to sleep after partying and drinking all night. She never woke up. In fact, in the last two years, 61 people under 21 had alcohol in their System at the time of death, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. That number only includes the young people who died under special circumstances that required an autopsy. Therefore, the actual number of people under 21 who had been drinking prior to their death could be much higher. None were old enough to drink legally. Yet, they all had a blood alcohol level that ranged from .01 to .40. Where did they get the alcohol? Who gave it to them? A lot of the time it's adults who willingly or unknowingly provide the booze. Francisco's father wanted to know who gave his son the alcohol that led to his death. He contacted a lawyer but the case went nowhere. "I wanted them to pay for what they did. I don't understand why anyone would give alcohol to a minor," the father said. It is against the law to furnish alcohol to a minor. Adult providers need to understand that their actions are killing our young people and costing taxpayers millions in alcohol-related problems. We need to put an end to it. Law enforcement agencies from throughout the county, together with community-based coalitions of parents, students, public health professionals and elected officials, have kicked off Operation Safeguard, a campaign targeting underage drinkers and adult providers. For the next two months, covering the entire spring break period for college and high school students, they will be conducting random DUI checkpoints, decoy and shoulder tap operations, compliance checks and party dispersals. The goal is to keep alcohol from reaching the hands of underage drinkers and keep them from dying. Alcohol-related crashes are the leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24. That's 42 people every week or six every day. Also, alcohol is a factor in over half of all teen suicides and rapes. The economic cost of underage drinking is also mounting. California leads the nation in underage drinking spending – car crashes, violence, suicides, etc. – costing state taxpayers $6.5 billion per year. In the United States, the total cost of alcohol use by youth exceeds $50 billion each year. It is against the law for young people to drink; yet 10 million of the nation's 113 million drinkers are underage. That is because young people have easy access to alcohol. Ask any young person where kids get their booze. They will tell you. Kids get alcohol from an older brother or sister, from friends or even parents who don’t care that their children or their children’s friends drink. "It’s adults who should know better, and that's not acceptable behavior," said San Diego Police Chief David Bejarona. Some people may even think underage drinking is a "rite of passage." For a 19-year-old young woman, however, her last drink was her final "rite of passage." She died after jumping from a moving vehicle one year ago in Chula Vista. Her BAC level – .32. For a 15-year-old young man, drinking was also his final "rite of passage." He drowned in Coronado Beach in August of 2000. Article Snapshot (41K) |
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