March's Compliance Rate for the City of Snellville is 95%!

The City of Snellville Police Department conducted a compliance check sweep in March, visiting 22 alcohol retailers. Only one of the stores sold alcohol to the underage decoy, which is a compliance rate of 95%.

According to the 2014 Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services Youth Health Survey, 5% of Gwinnett County High School students get alcohol by buying it themselves from a store. It’s important to take action in a way that keeps our teens from accessing alcohol so easily.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking notifies governments and policymakers that education alone is not enough to prevent teens from getting their hands on alcohol. When attempting to reduce and prevent underage drinking, it is imperative that there are restrictions in place that help reduce the availability of alcohol on an environmental level. Evidence based environmental strategies, such as conducting regular compliance checks of alcohol retailers, are effective in restricting the retail availability of alcohol to teens in the community.

In order to expand this effort even further, the City of Snellville has partnered with GUIDE, Inc. to supply all 41 of the city’s alcohol retailers with warning signage to remind adults not to provide alcohol to minors and information the retailers can use in their training of employees. This helps assure the community understands the consequences of providing alcohol to minors and employees are following all the laws and ordinances, such as checking IDs and not selling alcohol to those under 21.

Captain Carey Roberts from the City of Snellville Police Department says, “We are very proud to work with GUIDE on this project whereby the Snellville Police Department can not only assist in educating the public and teens about the dangers that alcohol can have on youth, but also to evaluate our business partners’ compliance with state laws and local ordinances governing the sale of alcohol to minors.”

We applaud and thank the 95% of alcohol retailers in the City of Snellville who did not sell alcohol to an underage decoy during the latest compliance checks. The following local businesses continue to make our community healthier and safer:

Bobby Food Mart, 2208 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

The Market, 2007 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Publix, 1905 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Sam’s Club, 1520 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Shell, 2218 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Wal-Mart, 1550 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Q-T, 2008 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Q-T, 1912 Main St. East, Snellville

Nikos, 2118 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

CVS, 1960 Main St. East, Snellville

Walgreens, 1930 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

CVS, 1938 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

N&N, 2899 Main St. W, Snellville

Wal-Mart, 2912 Main St. W, Snellville

Sam’s Mart, 3125 Lenora Church Rd., Snellville

Shell, 1984 Main St., Snellville

Racetrac, 2211 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Shell, 3095 Lenora Church Rd., Snellville

Citgo, 2304 Scenic Hwy, Snellville

Texaco, 2348 Main St. E, Snellville

Lincoln Fill Station, 2280 Henry Clower Blvd., Snellville

GUIDE is a substance abuse prevention agency serving Gwinnett County since 1986. To find out more about us, please connect with us at guideinc.org.