Social host ordinances as an effective strategy for reducing underage drinking parties on private property


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

3254.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - 2:48 PM

Abstract #104512

Social host ordinances as an effective strategy for reducing underage drinking parties on private property

Stacy L. Saetta, JD and James F. Mosher, JD. Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 6062 Graham Hill Road, Suite B, Felton, CA 95018, (831) 335-1000, ssaetta@pire.org

Research studies demonstrate that underage drinking parties represent an unusually high risk setting for youth alcohol problems, including alcohol-related traffic crashes, other forms of injury, sexual assaults, and other forms of violence. Numerous press reports in the last couple of years have highlighted incidents involving underage parties where injuries have occurred, hosts, including parents, have been arrested, and state and local social host liability legislation has been subsequently introduced and/or enacted. The Institute of Medicine's report Reducing Underage Drinking: a Collective Responsibility urged states and localities to enact a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce underage alcohol consumption, including strengthening social host liability laws affecting persons under 21. Clearly, social host liability laws offer an important new strategy for reducing the toll of underage drinking on society.

Participants will learn about the three different types of social host laws; how social host laws can be used as part of an overall community or campus strategy to deter underage access to alcohol; and how to draft an effective underage drinking party ordinance tailored to meet particular social, economic, and political needs of a given community.

At the conclusion of the session, participants in this session will be able to:

&bull Identify the different types of social host laws and their purposes.

&bull Recognize how these laws can be used as part of an overall community or on-campus strategy to affect underage access to alcohol.

&bull Articulate the key components of an effective underage drinking party municipal ordinance.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

Identify the three different types of social host laws and their purposes.
Recognize how these laws can be used as part of an overall community or on-campus strategy to affect underage access to alcohol.
Articulate the key components of an effective underage drinking party municipal ordinance tailored to meet particular social, economic, and political needs of a given community and the arguments to support the enactment of such an ordinance by local governmental bodies.

Keywords: Alcohol, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation

Preventing Alcohol-Related Problems through Effective Policies

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA