1. Learn. Act. Impact. Save Lives.
Social Host Presentation
The Alcohol Prevention Enhancement Site (PES), operated by Bluegrass Regional Prevention Center in Lexington, Kentucky, does research on alcohol environmental strategies, disseminates the latest national research, and provides technical assistance and training on implementing and evaluating effective environmental strategies to reduce alcohol availability to underage youth.
The prime objective of the Alcohol PES is to empower communities to implement policies at the local level that will have a positive and lasting effect on the community environment, thereby reducing the harmful consequences of illegal use and abuse of alcohol.
Tara McGuire, Manager
Alcohol Prevention Enhancement Site, Bluegrass Prevention Center

2. It is the No. 1 Youth Drug Problem in America.
Teen drinking kills more youth than all other drugs combined.
It is the No. 1 Youth Drug Problem in America.
On average, alcohol is a factor in the deaths of approximately 4,700 youth in the United States per year (CDC Alcohol-Related Disease Impact application, 2011).

3. Just like any other…..
Alcohol is not just any other commodity, because of its potential to adversely affect families and communities. Alcohol is a drug, excessive alcohol usage has consequences especially to our young people.
The World Health Organization indicates alcohol is the world's third largest risk factor for disease burden.
Optional -- Play video clip- funny- what if toilet paper was only sold on Sundays.

4. When asked what they most worry their teens will experience as result of underage drinking, many adults would probably say drunk driving crashes and DUIs.
Well-meaning parents host underage drinking parties and take away teens’ keys believing they are keeping them safe.
Alcohol is implicated in homicide, suicide, unintended pregnancies, crime, violence, educational failure, and other problem behaviors; all of which are magnified by early onset of teen drinking.
According to the SAMHSA Drug Abuse Warning Network in 2011, on average, every three minutes someone under the legal drinking age in the U.S. has to go to the ER because they drank underage.

5. Alcohol affects the structure and function of the brain as it develops, particularly the neural connections in the brain’s reward pathway.
40% of those who reported having started drinking before age-15 reported alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, a percentage that was four times higher than that reported by those who started drinking at age-21 according to research by Grant and Dawson (1997) identified by PIRE in the 2011 Underage Drinking in the Kentucky The Facts Report.
The price of underage drinking becomes lifelong– not just because of car crashes, injuries, and legal consequences, which we typically fear– but even more frequently through a lifelong vulnerability to or struggle against addiction.
Image credit– Madison County Youth in Action Team

6. More than a highway safety issue…
According to the KIP 2012 Survey, the most frequent consequence reported by Kentucky youth as result of their drinking and/or drug use is MEMORY LOSS.
Underage Drinking is more than just a highway safety issue KIP data illustrates:
-- Most frequent consequence to KY youth is couldn’t recall behavior
-- 1 in 4 12th graders reported experiences this, and it’s more than just a blackout to be laughed off.
-- Compare to 3.5% of 12th grade students who reported their drinking and/or drug use caused them to be involved in a car wreck.
The MADD.org April 2013 Blog "Taking the keys doesn't take away the risks" based on data from the FBI, CDC and NHTSA indicated traffic deaths accounted for 32% of underage drinking-related deaths involving 15 to 20 year olds, whereas, 68% were non-traffic deaths.

7. Consistent: ‘No use before 21’ message!
ADULT ROLE
Consistent: ‘No use before 21’ message!
Make clear that your expectation is he or she not drink.
Set family rule no alcohol use before 21. No socializing in places where teens are drinking. No riding in cars with underage drivers who have had ANY alcohol.
Agree on consequences for breaking the no-use rule and enforce “zero tolerance”.
Teen brain focuses on what’s happening this weekend, not next year
Don’t think of long-term consequences of drinking— stats alone may not matter if teens think “My friend drinks and nothing bad has ever happened.”
Discuss real-world consequences to underage drinking including the high fines for a minor in possession, drunk driving, loss of driver’s license and possibility of no longer participating in extracurricular activities.
Image credit– Madison County Youth in Action Team

8. 74 percent of teens turn to their parents for guidance on drinking.
Parents are the number one influence when it comes to teens and alcohol.
74 percent of teens turn to their parents for guidance on drinking.
* Communicate before a problem starts
* Discuss rules and consequences
* Show you care
* Pay attention
* Share family activities
* Give and get respect
* Enforce consequences consistently
Parents are the number one influence when it comes to teens and alcohol.
74 percent of teens turn to their parents for guidance on drinking.

9. Strategies that Help a Teen Succeed
Alternatives to drinking BEST APPROACH Promote a Safer Community
Strategies that help a teen succeed:
 Decrease risk and increase protective factors
Parents gradually give kids more freedom and responsibility.
Parents trust and teach skills that empower teen to take control of their own life.
Parents boost Teen Self-Esteem: praise accomplishments, help set realist goals, offer choices, give responsibilities, focus on strengths without comparing to others, & take teen’s concerns seriously
Provide alternatives to drinking
… BEST APPROACH Change the environment!
Image credits: Owensboro Catholic High School SCRUBS youth group teaching the seven-strategies of community change (Daviess Co.); Fayette County Youth Coalition for Alcohol Education; PAL Coalition (Louisville); and Mountain Comprehensive Care Regional Prevention Center

10. Most underage drinkers reported drinking in a private residence verses in a restaurant, bar, park, or vehicle (SAMHSA, CBHYSQ, NSDUH, Special Data Analysis, 2012).
The Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control Operation Zero Tolerance data indicated 93% of Kentucky Alcohol Retailers were compliant and refused to sell alcohol to minors when checked in 2013.
Several Kentucky community surveys have asked participants if they knew of other adults who hosted parties and provided alcohol to underage youth. In each of these surveys, a sizeable portion of adults said “yes.”
This data suggest young people obtain alcohol more frequently via social access rather than retail access, meaning that someone who is old enough to purchase alcohol (friend, sibling, or even parent) provides it—directly or indirectly—to the youth.
Image credit– Madison County Youth in Action Team

11. Environmental Prevention
What more can be done?  Community Environmental Strategies
Laurie Lieber of the former Marin Institute now Alcohol Justice said, “Holding youth solely responsible for underage drinking is like blaming fish for dying in a polluted stream.” In keeping with this understanding, efforts to reduce underage drinking must seek to create and sustain a broad societal commitment that turns the tables on acceptance of underage drinking as normal and part of a youth's “rite of passage.”
"Holding young people solely responsible for underage drinking is like holding fish responsible for dying in a polluted stream."

12. Prevention Strategies to Reduce
SOCIAL ACCESS
Alcopops
Sticker Shock
“Gear Exchange”
Coaches Initiative
Social Host
Social Host is just one piece of the puzzle, but a Social Host Ordinance alone will not fix the entire problem.
If Plan A doesn’t work, stay cool! The alphabet has 25 more letters! Find out about more community-based environmental prevention strategies at
Alcopops
Sticker Shock
“Gear Exchange”- a campaign to influence social norms
Coaches Initiative
Social Host

13. Retailers Law Enforcement Adults/Parents Youth Media
One community = one voice!
Retailers
Law Enforcement
Adults/Parents
Youth
Media
Partnership Advantage: Engaging Youth and Communities towards a Common Goal
Takes everyone working together and on the same page to reduce youth’s social and retail access to alcohol and SAVE LIVES!
Image credits: Clark County Youth Coalition and Fayette County Youth Coalition for Alcohol Education

14. SOCIAL HOST ORDINANCES
SOCIAL HOST ORDINANCES hold adults (social hosts) criminally responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease or otherwise control.
The officer does not need to witness the adult handing alcohol to a minor to issue a citation.
The law can extend to include adults who don’t take sufficient measures to prevent underage drinking from occurring in their home or on their property—even if they are not home when the drinking occurs. Social Host Ordinances give law enforcement a tool to control parties where underage drinking occurs, and they serve as a significant deterrent to hosting the parties in the first place.
Option: play video clip- Maryland Attorney General host underage drinking party.
Image credits: Alcohol Prevention Enhancement Site and Mountain Comprehensive Care Regional Prevention Center

15. 27 States have a criminal and/or civil liability statewide
Social Host Law
Source: Alcohol Policy Information System, a project of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

16. 23 Kentucky Communities have enacted a Social Host Ordinance
Currently, 23 Kentucky counties and/or cities have Social Host Ordinances.
Visit to view copies of KY Social Host Ordinances
List updated April 2014

17. Are Social Host Ordinances REDUNDANT?
Social Host Ordinances hold property owners civilly and/or criminally liable for underage drinking that occurs on their property if they knew or should have known about it.
Often when communities are looking to pursue a Social Host Ordinance the question is raised, “Don’t we already have laws on the books that address this?” There are several relevant state statutes, but they have significant limitations.
If an adult does not take reasonable steps to know what occurs and prevent it (such as ensuring adequate adult supervision for the size of the party, not having alcohol readily accessible, etc.), then a social host ordinance holds them responsible.
Legal penalties can be civil, such as having to pay the response costs of law enforcement/ first responders, and/or criminal, making hosting an underage drinking party a Violation or Misdemeanor. 

18. Social Host Ordinances verses KRS Unlawful Transaction with a Minor
Unlawful Transaction with a Minor in the Third Degree
(KRS )—a person who “knowingly sells, gives, purchases,
or procures any alcoholic or malt beverage in any form to or
for a minor” can be charged under this statue, which is a Class A Misdemeanor. 
Parents or guardians of that minor are specifically exempted from this statute—so,
someone can be charged with unlawful transaction if they give alcohol to someone else’s
child, but not for giving it to their own child. 
WEAKNESS – you have to prove that a “transaction” took place. If someone buys alcohol, puts it in the basement fridge, walks away and washes their hands of the matter, it is difficult to charge them with unlawful transaction so long as they can deny knowledge minors would consume it. 
KRS Chapter 244 (Alcoholic Beverages - Prohibitions, Restrictions, and Regulations)
Unlawful Transaction with a Minor in the Third Degree (KRS )—a person who “knowingly sells, gives, purchases, or procures any alcoholic or malt beverage in any form to or for a minor” can be charged under this statue, which is a Class A Misdemeanor. 
Parents or guardians of that minor are specifically exempted from this statute—so someone can be charged with unlawful transaction if they give alcohol to someone else’s child, but not for giving it to their own child.  The weakness of the law—you have to prove that a “transaction” took place. So, if someone buys alcohol, puts it in the basement fridge, walks away and washes their hands of the matter, it is difficult if not impossible to charge them with unlawful transaction so long as they can deny knowledge minors would consume it. 

19. Social Host Ordinances KRS Minors Not to Possess or Purchase Liquor
verses
KRS Minors Not to Possess or Purchase Liquor
Minors Not to Possess or Purchase Liquor (KRS )—this statute holds minors responsible for possessing or purchasing alcohol. It also states: “No person shall aid or assist any person under 21 years of age in purchasing or having delivered or served to him or her any alcoholic beverages”—for adults, failure to abide by this statute is a Violation, punishable by a fine only, and there is no exception for the parents of the minor. 
WEAKNESS -- It is necessary to prove someone “aided or assisted” the minor in purchasing alcohol or having it delivered or served to him. The issue is not just someone can denying knowing that a minor was drinking.  Even if they knew it was happening and did nothing, you must also establish their failure to act meaning they “aided or assisted”  the minor in having alcohol served to them.
Minors Not to Possess or Purchase Liquor (KRS )—this statute holds minors responsible for possessing or purchasing alcohol. It also states: “No person shall aid or assist any person under 21 years of age in purchasing or having delivered or served to him or her any alcoholic beverages”—for adults, failure to abide by this statute is a Violation, punishable by a fine only, and there is no exception for the parents of the minor. 
It is necessary to prove that someone “aided or assisted” the minor in purchasing alcohol or having it delivered or served to him. The weakness here isn’t just that someone can denying knowing that a minor was drinking.  Even if they knew it was happening and did nothing about it, you must also establish their failure to act means they “aided or assisted”  the minor in having alcohol served to them.

20. Social Host Ordinances KRS Endangering the Welfare of a Minor
verses
KRS Endangering the Welfare of a Minor
Endangering the Welfare of a Minor
(KRS )—Kentucky’s law states
only a “parent, guardian or other person
legally charged with the care of custody
of a minor” can be charged.
Endangering the Welfare of a Minor (KRS )—KY’s law states only a “parent, guardian or other person legally charged with the care of custody of a minor” can be charged.

21. RECOMMENDATIONS Adult-supervised drinking does not inhibit
Adult-supervised drinking does not inhibit alcohol use or misuse.
Parents adopting a zero-tolerance standard can reduce harmful alcohol use among their youth.
Adult-supervised drinking does not inhibit
alcohol use or misuse.
Parents adopting a zero-tolerance standard can
reduce harmful alcohol use among their youth.

22. Don’t be a party to teenage drinking. It’s against the law.
“As parents, we want MORE for our kids… Don’t let underage drinking get in the way of their potential!”
Graphics Credit: Fayette County/ Lexington Mayor’s Alliance on Substance Abuse, now called Drug Free Lex; Bluegrass Regional Prevention Center; and the Parents Who Host Lose the Most Campaign

23. Learn. Act. Impact. Save Lives.
“Be the positive influence.”
Tara McGuire, Manager
Alcohol Prevention Enhancement Site, Bluegrass Prevention Center