| SAN DIEGO ISSUE
BRIEFING: -- U.S. TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS DRINKING IN TIJUANA-- AN
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE OF PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES |
| Purpose of this Issue Briefing:
From time to time, IHA publishes reports and perspectives on public health and safety
issues in San Diego County. This Briefing's purpose is to open dialogue on problems
in San Diego County related to drinking by U.S. residents in Tijuana, Mexico. |
| Problem: For
several generations, the city of Tijuana, Mexico has been a party destination for
Americans from adjacent San |
|
| Diego and from throughout Southern
California. The difference in drinking age -- 18 in Mexico but 21 throughout the
U.S.-- the confusion of the border, and the sometimes-lax enforcement of U.S. and Mexican
drinking laws have combined to contribute to significant problems on both sides of the
international line. |
| Against the backdrop of alcohol problem
prevention work already accomplished in San Diego County, Tijuana's downtown drinking zone
presents a dramatic picture: |
- "Women Drink Free All Night Long,"
shout the signs in front of teen night clubs. San Diego teens arrive with false ID's
and doormen often don't even check them. The "women" could be a teenager
from any San Diego family and her friends.
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- Barkers in front of night clubs compete to
entice drinkers inside
for cheap drinks. Five to eight drinks for US$4.00 is a common weekend price.
Some drinks are 25 cents on Wednesdays. As noted above, some drinks are even
free. Low-prices drinks are known to encourage drinking to heavier
intoxication, especially among young patrons. Sidewalk signs say: "2
for the price of 1," "5 beers and 5 tequilas for $4.99," "Mixed drinks
2 for 1," "Bucket of 4 Beers and Tequila shot for $3.99."
|
- Waiters blow whistles to attract attention while pouring
unlimited
quantities of straight Tequila down the throats of patrons. Patron
resistance is often met with ridicule.
|
- Current voluntary breathalyzer studies by the Institute for
Health
Advocacy (IHA) show that 71% percent of 18-25 year old pedestrians
returning to the U.S. from Tijuana on party nights have been drinking. Of the 21
year old male drinkers who walk across the border, the average BAC is .096,
well over the driving limit of .080. For similar 18 year olds, the average BAC is
.090, nine times the legal limit for minors under 21. 18 year old drivers
have an average BAC of .10, ten times the legal limit. BAC levels for individuals
under 21 have been measured as high as .230, nearly three times the legal limit
established even for adult drivers. The highest levels of intoxication among
returnees from Tijuana are between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. and then again from 3:00 to 4:00
a.m.
|
- San Diego Police and U.S. Customs Officers estimate
that 10,000 young partiers come back to San Diego each drinking night, and that half of
them are "drunk."
|
- The one block police beat just inside the pedestrian
crossing area is the busiest in the city. Officers say most of the
crime is
alcohol-related and is heaviest during Tijuana party nights of Wednesdays, Fridays and
Saturdays, year-around.
|
... |
| Market demand is fed
constantly by thousands of U.S. teens and adults who cross the line to drink and
party. Recent surveys show that the crowd is made up of: |
- youths under 18, some of whom carry false ID's which are
difficult for Tijuana officials to detect. A 1996 investigative report by a San
Diego TV station showed that children as young as 13 regularly drink in some of the bars
and that ID's are often not checked at the door.
|
- young people over 18 but under 21. Many in this
category are students at San Diego area colleges and universities, while others are U.S.
military personnel. Many of these drinkers become potential targets of California's
underage drinking and driving laws as soon as they cross back into California since the
state laws allow police to take action with a blood alcohol level as low as .01 compared
to the adult level of .08.
|
- adults over 21 years of age who take advantage of cheap
alcohol promotions to over-imbibe, often drinking to intoxication.
|
| Heavy drinking incidents by youths or
adults can lead to a variety of serious consequences including: |
- deaths and injuries related to DUI vehicle crashes.
These incidents are often reported by newspapers to occur 25 to 50 miles past the U.S.
border checkpoint. Emergency medical service personnel believe many of
these crashes occur as "border crosser attentiveness" wears off.
|
- fighting, injuries and arrests in Tijuana, in pedestrian
crossing lines at the Border Station, and in public places, homes, residence halls and
barracks throughout San Diego County.
|
- violent crimes including murder, rape, armed robbery and
others which are often alcohol-fueled,
|
|
SAN DIEGO COUNTY HAS MADE PROGRESS AGAINST ALCOHOL PROBLEMS IN THE
PAST.
Over the past several years, public health and safety officials, along with community
members, educators and others, have made substantial progress in
cleaning up environmental factors which contributed to alcohol-related problems inside San
Diego County. These projects have included banning
alcohol consumption at many beaches and public parks, passing alcohol-related Conditional
Use Permits in cities such as Lemon Grove and
Escondido, discouraging alcohol industry advertising and promotion which targets
youths or minorities or which alludes to the "health benefits" of
alcohol-related products, and working with the hospitality industry through Responsible
Beverage Service practices to reduce sales to minors and
intoxicated persons. During this same period, some communities have supported their
police departments in beefing up enforcement of laws regarding sales to minors, sales to
intoxicated persons, underage drinking and DUI. Major spring break festivals which support
teen drug and alcohol use have been discouraged in the county. Community groups
successfully
asked Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturer of Budweiser Beer, to limit its alcohol promotion
practices at its San Diego Sea World theme park. During this period of progress,
media advocacy leaders helped community members, including parents and youths, bring these
and other important issues to the
public and to policy makers through support of community-based newsmaking.
Hundreds of media advocates trained through the system held news events and wrote guest
columns and letters to editors in order to focus public attention on the underlying issues
and to point toward the adoption of specific new policies. |
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- addiction to alcohol and other drugs,
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- poor performance or dropout from middle schools, high
schools,
colleges and universities
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- transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's)
including HIV
and others,
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- unwanted teen pregnancies.
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| Strategies toward Solutions: |
*Data collection: IHA
personnel in yellow Public Health uniforms have been obtaining information at the San
Ysidro Port of Entry since April, 1997. These surveyors work from 11:00 pm until 5
am on drinking nights, surveying U.S. residents returning from Tijuana. In addition
to gathering information including age, occupation, purpose of visit, and means of
transport home, they offer volunteer breathalyzer tests to their subjects, who are
pedestrians, drivers and vehicle passengers. San
Diego Police officers and personnel from U.S. Customs provide assistance to the
information gatherers. The survey and breath tests will continue for the life of the
Project, helping to pinpoint specific problem areas and to measure various intervention
results from week to week. Data collection will broaden to other sources as the
Project moves forward. |
| *Encourage the enactment of new
policies: |
- Voluntary elimination of teen-targeting ads on San Diego
radio stations and in San Diego area university newspapers and on campus kiosk bulletin
boards.
|
- Assist Tijuana bars and clubs to acquire Responsible Beverage
Service training and technical assistance and to establish policies of responsible service
to patrons.
|
- Live cable TV channel with remote camera focused on border
exit all night on drinking nights for parents to check out the action and look for their
kid. This could run on an open cable TV channel to homes throughout
the county.
|
- Establish a detox center and holding jail at or near the Port
of Entry so law enforcement personnel can make appropriate detentions without having to
transport each detainee to a distant jail immediately. Parents will be called during
the late night hours to pick up their intoxicated offspring and to pay penalties.
Repeat alcohol offenders will be placed in treatment programs.
|
|
What is Responsible
Beverage Service? Nationally renowned responsible hospitality
advocate Marian Novak of San Diego defines RBS as "the promotion
of serving alcoholic beverages in a responsible manner through training and house
policies."
| The San Diego County
Responsible Hospitality Council was formed in 1989 and has successfully: |
- Trained over 2000 bartenders, beverage managers
and servers in RBS.
|
- Provided technical assistance to bars and
restaurants to implement
model house policies of Responsible Beverage Service.
|
- Shared its expertise with over 20 other cities
in the U.S. and is a model for the entire country.
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|
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| *Provide support for
enforcement of existing laws: |
- Zero Tolerance DUI law ? allows police to take the license of
a
person under 21 on the spot for a breath test over .01 (about a third of a beer).
The license revocation is for a year. No jail time or court appearance.
|
- Underage DUI law - kicks in at .05 BAC for persons under 21.
Fine,
jail, court appearance.
|
- Vehicle impoundment law - for repeat DUI offenders, vehicles
are
seized. Repeat violators lose the car permanently.
|
- More police DUI patrols, saturation DUI patrols, use of the
alcohol-Sniffer flashlight and all-night checkpoints on surface streets and freeways near
the border.
|
- Intervene at the pedestrian and bus crossings leaving the
U.S. for
Tijuana to enforce the existing law which prohibits U.S. citizens under 18 from leaving
the country without parental consent.
|
- Provide public information to youths, parents and adults on
both
sides of the border that laws are being enforced. Use community- and agency-driven
media advocacy, pamphleting at the border, and through other means.
|
| *Community participation
and the development of new norms: |
| *Use media advocacy to
encourage public and policy maker discussion and action about border drinking
issues, to place San Diego County's problems related to Tijuana drinking on the public
agenda, to eventually change community norms, and to support policy-makers who move
effectively to enact effective prevention policies. IHA will offer a series of
community workshops for families, youths, parents, educators, agency personnel and
organizational leaders on newsmaking techniques and other focus areas. Youth
spokespersons will be strongly involved throughout the process. |
... |
| How to Participate: |
| AGENCY PERSONNEL AND
COMMUNITY MEMBERS: |
- Join the Border Drinking Task Force. Meetings are open
to agency
personnel and community members from San Diego County and Tijuana who wish to participate
in reducing these problems. The next meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. in the San
Diego Room on July 22, 1997 at the San Diego County Health Complex at 3851 Rosecrans
Street near the junction of I 5 and I 8. Call (619) 238-7034 in English or Spanish for
driving instructions and to
reserve a seat.
|
- Sign on to the Border Project mailing list to be notified of
future
meetings and to receive ongoing information. Call Alicia or Eileen at (619) 238-7034
or fax to (619) 238-7036.
|
- Attend media advocacy training in English or Spanish to learn
how to become a newsmaker on this and other issues. Call IHA for scheduling
information -- (619) 238-7034.
|
- Become a spokesperson at the Border Drinking Task Force's
opening news event. It will be held at the border during evening hours on a date to
be selected during the week of August 11, 1997. Participants must participate in a
Border Project media workshop prior to the event. The Project expects to receive
coverage on San Diego and Tijuana TV, radio and newspapers. Spokespersons and
participants are needed in English and/or Spanish.
|
- Contribute your ideas. Call Border Project director
James Baker at
IHA (619) 238-7034 with your ideas or to set up a private meeting.
|
TIJUANA
NIGHT CLUB OWNERS AND MANAGERS: |
- Sign up your establishment for Responsible Beverage Service
Training, to be offered by the San Diego County Responsible Beverage Council. For
more information, Marian Novak at (619) 793-1585 in English or Alicia Wilson at
(619)238-7034 in Spanish.
|
- Agree on standards for marketing and promotion that do not
encourage underage drinking, inappropriate drinking, nor drinking to intoxication.
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