PORTLAND, OR -- Underage drinking is at a ten-year low, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers For Disease Control, and the beer industry is taking some of the credit.
The new report shows 22% of high school students surveyed admit to drinking alcohol over a 30-day period, down from 35% ten years earlier. Bill Young, with The Beer Institute, isn't surprised, "Because we've seen several years in a row now - a couple generations, really, worth of kids - that just look at underage drinking differently." But, he also belives kids need to hear positive and healthy messages from more than just their parents, "That means there's a lot of community involved in the prevention of underage drinking, and everyone can figure out how to have a role when invited to the table." And that includes the makers, distributors and sellers of alcohol.
According to Young, brewers and wholesalers provide retailers and bars with training and other resources, "If we can prop them up with a few things - some of them might think they're silly. One of them is just a sign when they come in the door that says, 'We're going to card you if you don't look old enough to buy alcohol.' So that's something that the beer industry started and you still see in stores today." They also provide training, "That training oftentimes is accessed with state permission, so everything is legal, either by a wholesaler or by a beer supplier. And in that training, they're training for how to check IDs."
And, retailers can even "sting" themselves, "We actually, in the industry, were part of setting up a program that still runs today, and it's actually global. It's called BARS, and BARS stands for Being an Alcohol Responsible Seller," says Young, "A retailer can actually pay for a monthly service. And the BARS business will send in people who look like they ought to be carded."
In the CDC survey, 24% of teen girls reported drinking in the past 30 days, while 20% of teen boys reported the same.
Underage marijuana use was also down in 2023, compared to 2013. But like alcohol, rates between 2021 and 2023 were relatively flat. View the full CDC report HERE.
Graph courtesy of the U.S. Centers For Disease Control
