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.
  • 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,
  • addiction to alcohol and other drugs,
  • poor performance or dropout from middle schools, high schools,
    colleges and universities
  • transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) including HIV
    and others,
  • unwanted teen pregnancies.
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.
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.
  • *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.

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.
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.
  • Sign on to the Border Project mailing list to be notified of future meetings and to receive ongoing information.
  • Attend media advocacy training in English or Spanish to learn how to become a newsmaker on this and other issues. Call IPS / IHA for scheduling information -- (619) 296-3311.
  • Become a spokesperson. 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 the Border Project  at IPS  (619) 296-3311 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.
  • Agree on standards for marketing and promotion that do not encourage underage drinking, inappropriate drinking, nor drinking to intoxication.
Initial funding for the Border Project has been provided by two agencies of the San Diego County Department of Health Services: Alcohol & Drug Services and Emergency Medical Services.
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