Underage drinking is a serious issue and can result in risky behavior, car crashes, memory loss, sexual assault, alcohol poisoning, legal problems and death.
One way that GUIDE, Inc. (Gwinnett United in Drug Education) addresses underage drinking in our community is reducing teen access to retail alcohol by partnering with the Gwinnett County Police Department to conduct routine compliance check sweeps.
Compliance checks make sure that alcohol establishments and their employees are properly checking IDs of anyone who is buying and/or being served alcohol, preventing sales of alcohol to those under 21. When alcohol retailers are in compliance, it reduces access to alcohol and serves as a reminder to adults that providing alcohol to underage youth is illegal. Research shows that “shifting norms and reducing access to alcohol impacts the rates of high-risk drinking in addition to related problems among youth and adults” (Health Community Consortium, 2006).
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To conduct the compliance checks, youth under 21 serve as decoys and order an alcoholic drink at a restaurant or attempt to buy alcohol at a licensed store. In the past three months, April–June, 27 establishments were checked in Lawrenceville. The compliance rate during this time was 96%, which means that 1 out of 27 retailers sold alcohol to the underage decoy.
Thank you to ALL of the following businesses that practiced responsible alcohol sales and did NOT sell alcohol to the underage decoy:
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BP, 1380 Lawrenceville Suwanee Rd, Lawrenceville
Chevron Kwik Stop, 1850 Lawrenceville Hwy, Lawrenceville
CVS Pharmacy, 1525 Buford Drive, Lawrenceville
Exxon Food Mart, 2094 Lawrenceville Suwannee Rd, Lawrenceville
Gwinnett Convenience Store, 6942 Buford Hwy, Lawrenceville
Kroger, 1475 Buford Drive, Lawrenceville
Kroger, 2100 Riverside Pkwy, Lawrenceville
Kroger Company, 3050 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Lilburn Food Mart, 3020 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Medieval Times, 5900 Sugarloaf Pkwy, #517, Lawrenceville
Milk N Stuff, 2948 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Oakland Food Mart, 2339 Lawrenceville Hwy, Lawrenceville
Publix #564, 4045 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
QuickTrip #751, 2949 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
QuickTrip #759, 2120 Riverside Pkwy, Lawrenceville
RaceTrac, 1385 Grayson Hwy, Lawrenceville
RaceTrac, 2682 Buford Drive, Lawrenceville
Rite Aid #11699, 645 Russell Rd, Lawrenceville
Rite Aid #11703, 2979 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Shell, 1490 Buford Drive, Lawrenceville
Shell Food Mart, 1095 Duluth Hwy, Lawrenceville
Shell Food Mart, 3020 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Shell Food Mart, 4088 Five Forks Trickum Rd, Lawrenceville
Shell Quick Mart, 4785 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Lawrenceville
Walgreens, 1065 Duluth Hwy, Lawrenceville
Walgreens, 1156 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Lawrenceville
It is their commitment to training of their employees and their policies that prevented the underage sales of alcohol.
We commend YOU. Keep up the great work!
GUIDE, Inc. (Gwinnett United in Drug Education) and Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human services collaborate with Gwinnett County Police Department in these prevention activities because we care about young people in our community and want to keep them safe and healthy.
GUIDE, Inc. is a substance abuse prevention agency serving Gwinnett County since 1986. To find out more about us, please connect with us at guidegti.wordpress.com.
References:
Health Community Consortium. (2006). An issue briefing: The Petaluma social host ordinance. Petaluma Coalition to Prevent Underage & High-Risk Drinking, 1(2). Retrieved from http://marylandcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SHO_Issue_Brief_71-28-06_final-3.pdf