Who We Are - Overview

19 November 2001
San Diego County Students Thank Parents For Not Hosting Underage Drinking Parties
Go Door-to-Door Asking Adults to Stop Providing Alcohol to Minors and Warning Them It’s Against the Law

SAN DIEGO, CA – They get it from strangers, store clerks, older friends, siblings and parents. They are teenagers and it is alcohol, the nation’s most pervasive drug problem among youth.

Indeed, every time youth are asked where they get alcohol from, the answer is the same.

Teens get booze from strangers outside of liquor stores, store clerks who fail to check I.D.s, older friends and siblings and parents who think there is nothing wrong with underage drinking, believing it is a “rite of passage,” a part of growing up.

“It is very easy for teens to get alcohol. There is always someone willing to give it to you,” said Melina Mena, a sophomore at El Cajon Valley High School and a member of the Communities Against Substance Abuse Student Leadership Faction, a substance abuse youth prevention team at the school. “Parents think they are being cool parents when they host underage drinking parties. They are not.”

Underage drinking and youth access to alcohol is an issue affecting every community in San Diego County. That is why Mena and dozens of San Diego County students gathered at Wells Park in El Cajon to kick off Project Home STOP, a campaign aimed at getting adults to stop providing alcohol to minors and hosting underage drinking parties.

The students, accompanied by parents, law enforcement, public health officials and community advocates, launched the campaign and immediately went door-to-door distributing brochures, in English and Spanish, warning adults about the problems related to underage drinking, California’s laws on youth consumption of alcohol and the penalties for furnishing booze to teens. They also asked adults to sign a pledge promising not to host underage drinking parties or give alcohol to minors. Project Home STOP organizers hope to expand the campaign countywide.

Teens are not old enough to buy alcohol, yet they say getting booze is very easy.

The most recent California Student Survey revealed that 40 percent of seventh graders, 69 percent of ninth graders and 81 percent of eleventh graders said alcohol is very easy to get.

Another survey conducted at an East County high school showed that 30 percent of teens get alcohol from strangers, 58 percent get it from older friends and 40 percent of students get alcohol at parties where parents are present.

“Parents believe they are being responsible by letting their children and their friends drink at home,” said Euna Teresa Ra, Youth Development Coordinator for Communities Against Substance Abuse. "What they are doing is breaking the law, encouraging their children to drink and putting them at risk for other alcohol-related problems.”

Alcohol consumption by youth is having serious consequences across the country.

Everyday, six young people die in alcohol-related crashes, the leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year-olds. In San Diego County, over 60 people under 21 died with alcohol in their system during 1999 and 2000.

Half of all teen suicides and rapes involve alcohol and most teens that get pregnant were drunk during sex. In fact, the earlier teens start drinking the greater the chances they’ll become addicted to alcohol as adults.

“Youth access to alcohol remains a serious problem in every community. It is up to all of us to be responsible and do all we can to help our young people make the right decision,” said El Cajon Police Chief Jim Davis.

Joseph Cice, Middle School Coordinator for the Lakeside School District, echoed Davis’ sentiments adding that alcohol consumption leads to poor academic performance.

Studies show that 30% of academic problems stem from alcohol misuse and grades tend to go down as alcohol consumption increases.

“We are trying to be friends to our kids when what we need to be is parents,” Cice said.

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 dollars each year. In the U.S., the total cost of alcohol use by youth exceeds $50 billion each year.

Given the severity of the problem, law enforcement has been stepping up enforcement efforts to reduce underage drinking and youth access to alcohol.

For over one year, the Santee Sheriff’s Office has been conducting party dispersals, detaining several adults for providing alcohol to minors and confiscating large amounts of alcohol.

During Spring Break this year, 14 law enforcement agencies from throughout San Diego County conducted a two-month operation aimed at reducing underage drinking and youth access to alcohol. During the two-month period, officers, deputies and investigators conducted 535 operations and arrested or cited 205 people; 83 of them for providing alcohol to a minor.

“We’ve encountered juveniles whose relatives go to the store and purchase alcohol for them,” said Deputy Tom Sadler, from the Santee Sheriff’s Office. “We want adults to know we’re out there enforcing drinking laws.”

Those arrested for providing alcohol to a minor will be prosecuted and required to pay a mandatory fine of $1,000 and do 24 hours of community service.

“We want persons 21 and older to know we will file criminal charges when they violate the law by supplying alcohol to minors,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Carleton, from the El Cajon office. “That includes parents who are present in homes where minors are openly being furnished with alcohol.”