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Is teen drinking a traditional, harmless rite of passage
or a serious public health problem? Why is alcohol so readily available to
teens? What can be done to draw the line on underage drinking? What can parents,
schools, law enforcement, business and community leaders do together to
reduce youth access to alcohol?
To address
these important questions, the Santa Maria Valley Policy Panel to Reduce Youth
Access to Alcohol was convened in April of 2001. Over 40 individuals were
recruited to serve on the Panel, representing a variety of disciplines,
perspectives and constituencies from throughout the community. During the
ongoing process of monthly meetings, the Panel heard testimony from a number of
youth and adults and considered many different policy proposals to reduce youth
access to alcohol. After many months of work, the attached recommendations were
developed.
The Policy Recommendations were organized into clusters related to the Community
(the City of Santa Maria, the City of Guadalupe, and the County of Santa Barbara
— the unincorporated areas surrounding the Santa Maria Valley), Schools, Law
Enforcement/Criminal Justice, Merchants and Land Use/Zoning.
The goal of the Santa Maria Valley Policy Panel Reducing Youth Access is
twofold: to focus community attention on the problem of underage drinking and to
stimulate action planning by individuals, organizations and government bodies to
address it. The intent of the Panel is to reduce youth alcohol consumption and
associated problems through initiating, changing, and/or reinforcing policies
limiting youth access to alcohol in the Santa Maria Valley.
The Objectives of the Santa Maria Valley Are To:
• Evaluate the link between youth access to alcohol
and underage drinking in the community and assess its consequences;
• Study the constructive steps that have been taken locally and by other
communities to address the problem;
• Hear testimony and recommendations from parents, youth, merchants, law
enforcement, prevention experts, community leaders and other citizens; and
• Develop consensus recommendations on initiating, changing and reinforcing
community-wide policies that will effectively reduce underage access to alcohol
and youth drinking in the Santa Maria Valley.
The Policy Panel will continue to meet monthly as a Coalition to monitor
implementation of the Recommendations, collect data, consider new policies or
changes, and to increase awareness of youth access to alcohol issues in the
Community.
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