Alexandria Campaign Educates Community About Dangers of Buying Alcohol for Minors

Survey data conducted of the Northern Virginia area show that many underage youth can easily get a hold of alcohol from adults – whether it’s from strangers who agree to buy alcohol for them or from their parents. To help prevent this, teams of youth and adults from Northern Virginia joined forces on October 10 to launch the first regional Sticker Shock campaign, a youth-led initiative to educate adults who might be tempted to purchase alcohol legally and provide it to minors. The campaign is part of the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria (SAPCA)'s efforts to prevent underage drinking in their community.

During the campaign, groups of youth and adults visited more than 100 Northern Virginia stores to place “warning” stickers on multi-packs of beer, wine coolers and other alcohol products, highlighting the penalties for furnishing alcohol to minors. In Virginia, providing alcohol to a minor is a Class 1 misdemeanor, with a punishment of up to $2,500 and up to 12 months in jail, or both. In addition, to these penalties, a person found guilty of this offense can have his or her driver’s license suspended for up to a year.

“Our main goal with the campaign was to discourage adults form purchasing alcohol for minors by educating both adults and youth about the consequences. The stickers also serve as a reminder to retailers about carefully checking ID for alcohol purchases,” explained Noraine Butar, SAPCA’s coordinator.

Research data of the area show that it is easy for youth to obtain alcohol. In an survey conducted in Arlington, Va., 52 percent of 10th grade students and 61 percent of 12th grade students reported that alcohol is easy to get. In a similar survey conducted in Alexandria, Va., 17 percent of high school students who drank alcohol in the past month said that someone gave alcohol to them, and during focus groups in 2008, students said that alcohol is easy to get.

The Sticker Shock campaign was sponsored by SAPCA, as well as Arlington’s READY Coalition (a project of the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families), MADD Northern Virginia, Alexandria Youth Council, Virginia ABC, and area law enforcement. More than 100 local retailers agreed to participate in the campaign, including Giant Food, 7-11, CVS and a host of small grocery and convenience stores.

Allen Lomax, SAPCA’s Chair, said the campaign provides an opportunity to send a clear message to parents that it’s simply not okay to provide beer, wine and alcohol products to anyone under 21.

“While the legal consequences to parents and other adult enablers are significant, the real damage is to our youth who far too often drink too much, drive while intoxicated and engage in risky behaviors. Long-term, consuming large quantities of alcohol, especially when combined with poor nutrition, can lead to permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain and liver,” Lomax said.

Youth play a key role in the campaign – and Buttar said that was by design.
“It is so important to have youth involved because this is truly a youth empowerment activity. Not only does it make youth aware of the penalty to adults that purchase alcohol for minors, it transforms youth into powerful stakeholders in the effort to combat underage drinking,” she noted.

The coalition is also launching an ad campaign with Comcast, a local cable provider, that touts “Parents Who Host Lose the Most.” They have also created a youth text line (#30644) in collaboration with the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP) and Alexandria Gang Prevention, where youth can text questions about alcohol and other drugs, sex, or gangs

SAPCA, a CADCA member, is an alliance of more than 80 members representing parents, youth, schools, City of Alexandria health and recreation agencies, media, nonprofits, businesses, faith communities, policymakers and law enforcement whose mission is to engage the entire community in reducing youth substance use and abuse in Alexandria. For more information about this and other SAPCA efforts, visit: www.preventitalexandria.org.