DOJ Announces $24 Million in Awards To Enforce Underage Drinking Laws

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Office of Justice Programs announced more than $24 million in awards to enforce state and local underage drinking laws nationwide. The awards are made through the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program, which supports law enforcement, public education, and coalition building activities to address underage access to and consumption of alcohol.

“We need to aggressively get the message out to our youth about the dangers of underage drinking," said Laurie O. Robinson, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. "We are committed to assisting state and local authorities in their efforts to enforce underage drinking laws that protect our youth.”

The EUDL program, administered by OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is the only federal initiative directed exclusively toward preventing underage drinking. The program is an annual initiative consisting of block grants and discretionary awards.

Each state, territory, and the District of Columbia received $360,000 in the form of block grants. The awards support a wide range of activities, including a strong emphasis on compliance checks of retail alcohol outlets to reduce sales to minors, crackdowns on false identification, and programs to deter older youth or adults from providing alcohol to minors. OJJDP also awarded discretionary grants totaling $1.9 million to Missouri and Wyoming to prevent alcohol access and consumption by underage service personnel in the U.S. Air Force and $2 million to the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation to provide training, technical assistance, and information sharing to EUDL grantees and local agencies focusing on enforcement strategies.