Underage Drinking Costs State $1 Billion Annually

Michelle Nienhius knows that some people think allowing teenagers to drink alcohol is “no big deal.”

“A lot of people are really on the fence when it comes to alcohol,” she said. “Is it really a big deal, is it not? You have some folks out there that say, 'It's just a little alcohol, it's now big deal, they could be doing something a whole lot worse.”

The Prevention Consultant with the Department of Alcohol and Other Drugs recently spoke to the Steppin' It Up Coalition.

“Alcohol is an extremely dangerous substance,” Nienhius said. “We all know that it's illegal for those under the age of 21 to use alcohol, but in the United States statistics tell us that it is the most widely abused substance among young people under 21.”

The most recent survey of high school students regarding alcohol use revealed that 35 percent of high school age drinkers began drinking before the age of 13.

“That's kids who say they've experimented with alcohol – not just a sip, consuming an entire beverage - ...before they get into middle school or high school,” Nienhius said. “We've got to start talking about these issues as kids are in those younger grade levels. If we wait till middle school or high school to start, we're already behind the eight ball.”

40 percent of those surveyed reported drinking within the past month. 22 percent reported binge drinking within the past month. 11 percent reported driving while drinking, while 26 percent reported having ridden with a drinking driver within the past month.

Liquor was the drink of choice of 30 percent of teens surveyed, followed by beer, wine, alcopops, alcohol energy drinks and wine coolers.

“If you want something that's pretty potent, and you want something that's going to get you intoxicated, they know what to go to,” Nienhius said. “They know to go to the strong stuff.”

Teens also know which types of alcohol can be disguised more easily.

“They can walk around with it in water bottles and mix it with Gatorade or soda or whatever and not be as easily detectable,” Nienhius said. “When we talk to our folks on college campuses, they say the transportability is what the big draw is to those under the age of 21.”

Each year in the United States, 5,000 people under the age of 21 die from alcohol-related injuries, she said.

“Consuming alcohol under the age of 21, then getting into a car crash, or getting into an issue with a suicide or a homicide or a fall or a drowning or alcohol poisoning, those kind of things,” Nienhius said. “In South Carolina, on average, we lose about 84 young people every year, as it relates back to something that's totally preventable. I didn't say it was easy to prevent, but it's totally preventable.”

In addition to costing lives, underage drinking is costly in terms of dollars, she said.

Research by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation showed that the total cost for underage drinking in South Carolina in 2010 cost “about a billion dollars,” Nienhius said.

“I know those resources could be used in much better ways,” she said. “If we can do more to get on the front end of this problem, maybe we can save some money and put that money towards other things.”

Underage drivers make up about 15 percent of drivers involved in fatal alcohol-related collision, Nienhius said.

South Carolina has implemented several strategies to tackle underage drinking, including making “very, very important changes to our laws.”

In 2007, legislators passed the Prevention of Underage Drinking and Access to Alcohol Act of 2007.

That law, in addition to penalties, had an emphasis on education as well.

“Penalties are important, but, especially when we're working with our young people, we also want to introduce education into the equation as well,” Nienhius said. “Some of them just need an opportunity to hear the message and to understand the message to get on the right track.”

The creation of 16 Alcohol Enforcement Teams has also help tackle the problem.

“Having good laws and policies is great, but if they aren't enforced, they don't really do us any good,” Nienhius said.

AETs work on enforcement, merchant education, party patrols, checkpoints, fake ID checks, etc.

“High visibility enforcement is extremely important to show that this is making a change in our communities,” Nienhius said.

AETs also do compliance checks on retail outlets, “anywhere that sells alcohol,” she said.

“You're sending in a person that's under the age of 21, they're going in with their real ID, so it clearly says, 'Hey, I'm 15, I'm 17 or whatever,'” Nienhius said. “If the clerk is doing their job and checking their ID, they won't sell alcohol to them.”

Between 5,000 and 7,000 compliance checks are now performed throughout the state annually and the state's successful buy rate has decreased, she said.