Learn the Law: Preventing and Reducing Underage Drinking Series 1-24

SAMHSA: The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking, 2021

Alcohol remains the most widely used substance by young people. To address this public health issue, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) – made up of 16 federal agencies – coordinates the federal approach to prevent underage drinking. However, it is parents, teachers, coalition members, and other committed people like you who do the lion’s share of the work to reduce underage drinking at the state and local levels. You are all valuable partners in the nationwide community that is working collaboratively every day to tackle this issue. To assist your critical eforts, the ICCPUD has created the annual Report to Congress on the Prevention of Underage Drinking and the State Performances and Best Practices (SPBP) for the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking Report. The SPBP Report describes best practices and promising approaches in prevention, intervention, and enforcement, including 26 legal policies; analyzes data on state enforcement of underage drinking laws and prevention programs, collaborations, and expenditures; and, compares states’ performance in reducing underage drinking. These two reports, as well as 51 individual State Reports, are required under the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking (STOP) Act, the federal law that created the ICCPUD. Between 2020 and 2021, the ICCPUD shared these legal policy summaries in a series called “Learn the Law.” This document contains each of those Learn the Law issues to provide a summary of all the current legal policy summaries in the SPBP Report. Below each Learn the Law issue, there is a link to the full legal policy summary which describes the policy, the exceptions to the policy, the status of states regarding the policy, and any policy trends. It also includes maps, charts, data sources, and citations.

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