By Beth Sise
Many reasons exist for a decline in underage drinking (see stats below), but many local experts agree that reducing alcohol’s availability and limiting the locations where it can be consumed by minors have both been significant factors.
Over the past two decades, officials have changed laws and introduced policies to reduce the amount of cross-border drinking among teens and military personnel under 21. They’ve banned alcohol from local beaches and most local parks.
And lastly, through use of social host Laws, they have begun holding people accountable for hosting underage drinking parties — regardless of where minors obtain the alcohol.
While some county residents still think social host violations are trivial matters, many health professionals and civic leaders have come to realize that the house party has become a key battleground in the fight against underage drinking.
Social host laws are a direct result of this realization, according to drug prevention professionals across San Diego County. The laws are part of a long-term drug and alcohol prevention strategy – focused on changing social norms, especially in the face of some die-hard attitudes about underage drinking.
“Many people are still holding on to some stubborn conclusions about underage drinking,” said Dr. Wendy Wright, former chair of the Pediatrics Department at Rady Children’s Hospital. “One is that underage drinking isn’t that serious. The second is that the risks can be managed or prevented if kids are allowed to party at someone’s home.”
Data collected by local researchers indicate that both these premises are wrong.
Anatomy of a social host call
Last year, San Diego County researchers examined three years worth of social sost enforcement data provided by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
All told, epidemiologists with the nonprofit Center for Community Research analyzed 92 social host citations issued from Jan. 2011 to December 2013 in every community patrolled by Sheriff’s deputies. (Vista, San Marcos, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Poway, Lemon Grove, Santee, Imperial Beach and all unincorporated areas of the county.)
The goal was to see what is actually occurring when deputies arrive at underage drinking parties around the county. What they found might surprise you.
About half of the parties included 50 or more guests and one-in-three had crowds of 100 or more.
More than 90 percent of social host citations were initiated by a disturbance call – calls from residents impacted by noise, minors vomiting outside, fights, assaults, even gunfire.
Half the time, deputies found guests severely intoxicated, unable to care for themselves, or requiring medical aid or transport due to injury, assault, or alcohol poisoning. In those instances, minors comprised 91 percent of those who were severely intoxicated – and more than a third of those required medical intervention or went to the hospital for potential alcohol poisoning.
By the numbers
- 93%
Percent of citations initiated by a disturbance call - 50%
Percent of cases with 50 or more guests - 34%
Percent of cases with crowds of 100 or more. - 51%
Percent of cases with guests severely intoxicated or injured - 91%
Percent of of severely intoxicated party guests found to be minors. - 34%
Percent of of severely intoxicated minors that required medical aid. - 25%
Percent of times parents present or hosting when minors were severely intoxicated or injured.
Source: 92 citations over three years by Sheriff’s Department / Analysis by Center for Community Research
These are telling statistics. Even when parents think they are in control, circumstances can quickly spiral out of hand, according to the crime reports.
“Teens are experts with smart phones and social networking, so news of a party can go viral in an instant,” said Jim Crittenden, an expert in drug abuse prevention and intervention with the San Diego County Office of Education. “A party intended for just a handful of teens can quickly escalate into chaos.”
“Factor in alcohol, and you need to multiply that chaos by a thousand,” Crittenden said.
Why it matters
Some adults still cling to notion that they can protect teens by hosting parties, but when they do, they hijack another parent’s right and responsibility to protect their own children, according to Felipe Nuño, a South Bay parent and Sweetwater Union High School committee member.
This often results in serious consequences.
Over the last five years, 78 minors in San Diego County died with alcohol in their system, according to the County Medical Examiner’s office, an average of more than 15 per year.
Each year on average, 46 minors, ages 14 to 20, are taken to emergency rooms in San Diego County due to alcohol poisoning alone, according to county admission data from 2008 to 2013.
“I think that’s why laws like this are important,” said Nuño. “The fact that they serve as such a strong deterrent – that’s why every city in the region has adopted them.”
Despite some resistance, social host laws are gaining more and more support, as residents become aware of them.
In the past three years, awareness of social Host laws nearly doubled – up from 22 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2014, according to a poll administered last year to more than 1,900 residents.
The poll also found that 71 percent of those surveyed were in favor of charging party hosts for the costs needed to investigate and disperse underage drinking parties.
Sise is chair of the Alcohol Policy Panel of San Diego County and the director of Research and Injury Prevention at the Scripps Mercy Hospital-San Diego Trauma Service.
By the numbers
Underage Drinking in San Diego County
Drinking & Driving Collisions, ages 12 to 20
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
466 394 324 319 286
*Five year average 358 per year.
Source: CHP
DUI arrests for drivers under 21
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
1816 1562 1385 1,166 935
*Five year average: 1,373
Source: DMV
ER discharges & hospitalizations due to alcohol poisoning – 14-20 years old
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
35 39 32 75 52
*Five year average 47 per year.
Source: County of San Diego, HHSA.
Lifetime alcohol use – Change from 1999 to 2013
- Eleventh-graders dropped from 81 percent to 62 percent – 19 point drop
- Ninth-graders dropped from 70 percent to 35 percent – 35 point drop – or 50 percent decrease.
- Seventh-graders dropped from 47 percent to 17 percent – 30 point drop
Source: Cal. Healthy Kids Survey
Binge drinking within past month – Change from 1999 to 2013
- Eleventh-graders dropped from 28 percent to 17 percent – 11 point drop
- Ninth-graders dropped from 19 percent to 10 percent – 9 point drop – or nearly 50 percent decrease
- Seventh-graders dropped from 7 percent to 4 percent – 3 point drop
Source: Cal. Healthy Kids Survey
