Duluth Reports 94% Alcohol Compliance Rate

As part of a continued effort to reduce underage drinking, the Gwinnett County Police Department detectives visited seventeen alcohol retailers in the Duluth area. Out of seventeen stores, one store sold alcohol to an underage decoy.

Law enforcement in Gwinnett County has worked with retailers to reduce the availability of alcohol sold to minors by conducting compliance checks like these. The Department of Health and Human Services, in their 2013 Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking has called compliance checks “an important community tool for reducing illegal alcohol sales to minors. In the same report, the Department of Health and Human Services referred to compliance checks as helping to “change or reinforce the perception that underage drinking is not acceptable.” In the past eight years, while we have been tracking the results of the compliance checks in Gwinnett County, we have seen a decrease in sales of alcohol to minors by employees of alcohol establishments.

As law enforcement works with these alcohol establishments to reduce retail availability of alcohol sold to minors, Gwinnett County must address the other piece of the puzzle when it comes to underage drinking—social availability. The term social availability refers to alcohol being made available to young people under the age of 21 which includes providing minors with alcohol or allowing unsupervised places for drinking. The latest data shows that most Gwinnett County teens who drink access alcohol in their homes or in the homes of friends.

Addressing the issue of underage drinking requires a layered, community response; relying on law enforcement, retailers, parents and community members to be vigilant when it comes to underage drinking. By being aware of underage consumption of alcohol at home and at parties as well as setting the tone that underage drinking is not permissible.

We would like to thank the following retailers for their continued commitment to preventing underage drinking by checking IDs of those who purchased alcohol from April through June.

Quiktrip #714, 1515 Beaver Ruin Rd., Norcross

Shell Food Mart, 1649 Beaver Ruin Rd., Norcross

Valero Food Mart, 1795 Beaver Ruin Rd., Norcross

BP Duluth, 2001 Pleasant Hill Rd., Duluth

Chevron Food Mart, 3720 Club Drive, Duluth

Chevron Food Mart, 2220 Pleasant Hill Rd., Duluth

Davenport Hop In, 3547 Old Norcross Rd., Duluth

Lucky Grocery Store, 888 Pleasant Hill Rd., Duluth