In an effort to target under-age drinking, the Kaua‘i Police Department and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving on O‘ahu are partnering with the U.S. Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu, as the county uses several methods to keep minors safe. The collaboration
In an effort to target under-age drinking, the Kaua‘i Police Department and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving on O‘ahu are partnering with the U.S. Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu, as the county uses several methods to keep minors safe.
The collaboration comes at the heels of Moritsugu’s call to action initiative to unify effort between government, communities, educators and families to prevent and reduce drinking among teens.
In his presentation last week, Moritsugu told the audience that new research on the long-term negative effects of alcohol use on the developing adolescent brain demonstrates a compelling need to address the problem of underage drinking by utilizing a systemic approach.
“We definitely need to work together if we’re going to solve this huge problem,” said Antidrug Coordinator Theresa Koki, according to a county prepared statement.
Eric Honma, director of the Department of Liquor Control, who attended the Call to Action kick-off meeting, agreed, according to the release.
“I think the surgeon general’s initiative complements existing programs and is very timely. But there are a number of effective programs already in place on Kaua‘i,” he said.
The Liquor Control Department’s “compliance check” program began six years ago and has since changed a 39 percent failure rate to “about eight percent,” Honma said.
His goal is to have the failure rate decrease to five percent or less.
The program entails a minor entering a retail store accompanied by an undercover police officer and a liquor investigator.
After making a selection from the liquor case, the minor goes to the checkout and attempts to purchase the alcoholic beverage.
If the cashier asks for a form of identification, the minor will produce a valid ID bearing a DOB.
If the transaction is completed, the police officer will cite the cashier for selling liquor to a minor.
In addition to the compliance check program is the “shoulder tap” program.
In this scenario, a specially-trained minor loiters in a designated parking lot, selects someone and asks him to purchase liquor for the minor’s consumption.
In the county’s “onnpremise licensee program,” a specially-trained minor goes to an establishment where liquor is served with an undercover police officer and attempts to order an alcoholic beverage.
If the minor is served liquor, the licensee is cited for serving liquor to a minor, which carries the same penalty that a retailer who sells alcohol to a minor is assessed.
Another program that addresses the problem of underage drinking is the “parent project.”
One of the chapters in the textbook for the course which is updated regularly covers the identification and prevention of alcohol and other drug use and intervention techniques.
It offers a six-step action plan for parents on how to find out whether their children have been drinking or doing drugs and how to help them if they have been.
Probably the most dramatic of the efforts to target underage drinking is put on by the Kaua‘i Rural Health Association’s Shattered Dreams program, where teenagers and their families enact what happens after a major traffic accident caused by teenage alcohol consumption.
The students who “die” in the accident are transported in a hearse to Wilcox Hospital.
The affected families gather at the hospital and have to deal with the loss of their children.
Among the agencies that participate in the Shattered Dreams program are the Kaua‘i police and fire departments, American Medical Response, Department of Liquor Control and the county’s Anti-Drug Office.
Kaua‘i was the first island in the state to launch the Shattered Dreams program in 2003, and other islands have since following suit.
