Attack Availability to Prevent Underage Drinking

A new study says bringing law enforcement to bear on underage alcohol purchases and limiting the number of places selling alcohol are the most effective ways to prevent underage drinking, binge drinking, and drunk driving, the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard reported Dec. 27.

Researchers looked at data from the Oregon Healthy Teens survey on youth alcohol behaviors and concluded that self-reported youth alcohol use was higher in communities where it was easier for young people to get alcohol. Study co-author Joel Grube, director of the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, Calif., and one of the study' authors, said the results confirmed what many preventionists have long been saying.

About 70 percent of the 11th-graders surveyed said they got their alcohol from friends, family members, or other social sources. The rest bought it from supermarkets, convenience stories, or other commercial sources.

The study will be published in the March 2005 issue of Preventive Medicine.