of Underage Drinking Laws
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"Families, communities, and law enforcement must work together to stop the effects of underage drinking. These awards fund initiatives to assist youth in preventing alcohol and substance abuse by strong enforcement of laws and zero tolerance for those who provide alcohol to minors. In addition, prevention programs will assist youth and their families with developing alternatives to drinking."
—Regina B. Schofield,
Assistant Attorney General
for the Office of Justice Programs.
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In October 2006, the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announced awards of more than $1 million in discretionary grants to Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Montana to focus on preventing alcohol consumption by underage military personnel. The awards were made through the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program, an OJJDP-administered initiative aimed at reducing the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors. The 2006 EUDL discretionary program is a partnership between OJJDP, the United States Air Force, and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which will evaluate this initiative.
Earlier in 2006, EUDL awarded more than $17 million in block grants to 50 States and the District of Columbia to support enforcement of State and local underage drinking laws.
The EUDL program focuses on four programmatic elements:
- Block grants to each State and the District of Columbia to fund the establishment of a statewide task force and innovative programs to prevent underage drinking, with a strong emphasis on law enforcement.
- Discretionary grants to selected States to fund enhanced activities at the local level.
- Technical assistance to guide States and communities in their efforts.
- National evaluation of the EUDL program.
EUDL funds support a wide range of activities. Many States focus on enforcement, emphasizing compliance checks of retail alcohol outlets. Other enforcement activities include crackdowns on false identification, programs to deter older youth or adults from providing alcohol to minors, "party patrols" to prevent drinking at large gatherings, "cops in shops" to keep minors from purchasing alcohol, and youth-focused campaigns to enforce impaired driving laws.
Many States also use EUDL funds to implement or strengthen laws and policies that can reduce underage drinking (e.g., keg registration ordinances that prohibit sale or rental of beer kegs for use by minors). EUDL funds are also used for public education activities that seek to promote community awareness of underage drinking and to change norms regarding it.
More information on the EUDL Program is available through the OJJDP Web site.
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