preventionfile1997.htm

Source: Prevention File, Vol. 12, No.3, Summer 1997

This article has been slightly adjusted for web publishing. For information about Prevention File: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs, a quarterly publication of The Silver Gate Group, visit www.silvergategroup.com

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Women Drink Free All Night Long, touts a large, colorful sign in front of one

Tijuana night club. But the women, in this case, could be your teen age daughter and her friends.

Every night between 7,000 and 10,000 teenagers return home to San Diego from Tijuana between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. following the big drinking nights of Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, according to San Diego police. That number doubles during Spring Break and on hot summer nights. Officers say most of the teens are drunk or high on other drugs.

Many of those teens have patronized drinking establishments in downtown Tijuana, about a mile from the U.S. border crossing. The area, named Revolucion after its main street, has been a center of tourism and partying for generations.

Tijuana's reputation as a party center for teens and others is known throughout the United States, and for good reason. Access from the American side of the border is easy. Drinks are cheap many bars sell as many as eight drinks for five dollars or less. On Wednesday nights, some drinks are just a quarter apiece. More than one club usually offers free drinks to female patrons.

San Diego police officers recently shot a video that illustrates typical late night action just across the border inside the U.S. Customs and Immigration Port of Entry. At the pedestrian checkpoint, youths carry their friends who can no longer walk. Fights break out. Intoxicated children vomit. Groups of youths challenge police officers to fights. Customs officers call ambulances to transport those who show symptoms of acute alcohol or drug poisoning. At the drive-through checkpoints, officers refer obviously intoxicated drivers to a holding area where they await arrest by the California Highway Patrol.

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A few revelers will have been left behind in the Tijuana jail, on the streets, in a rented hotel room, or elsewhere in the all-night city.

Most of the returning partyers get into taxis or their own cars and find their way back to their college dorm, military base or private home, somewhere in San Diego County or beyond. Some deadly alcohol-related crashes result over the course of time. Sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, are health threats. Teen pregnancies begin under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Family and community violence and a good deal of violent street crime also occur. Some of the teens will, over time, have become addicted, while others will quickly bring about enormous consequences in their lives, studies, careers, families and elsewhere. A few revelers will have been left behind in the

Tijuana jail, on the streets, in a rented hotel room, or elsewhere in the all-night city.

In Mexico, the legal drinking age is still 18. During the 1980s the U.S. government provided budgetary incentives for states to change their drinking ages to 21 as a way to reduce alcohol-related crashes among young people, and all fifty states did so. And it worked. This change alone is credited with a large part of the decrease in youth-involved crashes across the U.S. over the past decade. But an investigative news segment taped by a San Diego TV station taped in Tijuana bars found that U.S. teenagers from age 13 up are often found drinking in bars south of the border.

Both Sides of the Problem

Concerns are also rising south of the border. Thousands of young foreigners invade Tijuana several nights a week and many of them behave in a manner not tolerated in their home country. A Tijuana TV station recently carried a news story reporting that

Mexican Customs officials intended to attempt to screen evening border crossers for undesirable aliens, a term used to

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Mexican Custom officials intend to screen evening border crossers for undesirable aliens, a term used to describe San Diego teenagers who become publicly intoxicated, fights, commit other crimes.

a term used to describe San Diego teenagers who become publicly intoxicated, fight, commit other crimes, and otherwise cause problems for officials and residents in Tijuana. However, Mexico's ability to commit extra federal or local forces to this problem is limited by financial considerations and the availability of personnel. Some Mexicans interviewed by project workers during a Tijuana site visit

pointed out that Mexican youths are also attracted to U.S. drinking establishments, and even to U.S university campuses, because of the relatively easy access to alcohol enjoyed by teens in the United States.

Community organizations in San Diego county are now coming together to tackle these public health and safety problems. The first step is to undertake an assessment of the nature and depth of the problem. Public health workers recently gathered information on alcohol-related crashes, crimes, violence and other problematic behavior which occur in San Diego County but appear to be related to teens drinking in Tijuana.

Scientists and community assessment staff from the Institute for Health Advocacy have been conducting random voluntary breathalyzer tests for both drivers and pedestrians at the border since May. U.S. Customs and the San Diego Police Department cooperated in this program, which will determine the extent of intoxication for youths crossing the border at various age levels.

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An investigative news segment by a San Diego TV station taped in Tijuana bars found that U.S. teenagers from age 13 up are often found drinking in bars south of the border.

Scientists are also gathering information concerning area of residence and whether youthful drinkers are in the military or attend a local college or university. They will use breathalyzer tests to assess whether problems are reduced as interventions are implemented.

A county-wide Border Project Task Force has met twice to work on the problem of cross-border drinking by youths. The target work of the Task Force is to:

Identify and assess specific health and safety problems occurring in San Diego County related to U.S. teen drinking in Tijuana;

Recommend policies which can be adopted to reduce the problems

Support the implementation of the news policies and related facilities

Open and maintain broad public participation and discussion around issues and solutions.

While the Task Force has not yet made recommendations for policy changes, some of the policies under consideration have been adopted by other jurisdictions working to reduce teen drinking problems and include:

Increased public support for prevention-based enforcement of existing teen alcohol laws. Applicable laws include the .05 BAC youth alcohol-impaired driving law, California’s .01 BAC Youth Zero Tolerance driving law, public drunkenness laws, curfew laws, restrictions on minors leaving the country without parental permission, youth in possession of alcohol laws, and others. When a strong public information effort is added to youth alcohol law enforcement activities, substantial problem reduction can be achieved.
Public and financial support for a short term alcohol and other drug detox facility located at or near the border. Parents would be called to pick up their intoxicated children during the night.
Responsible Beverage Service training and support for Tijuana establishments that serve alcohol. RBS organizations in San Diego and other communities have trained managers and employees how to increase bar profits while avoiding service to minors and to intoxicated persons. RBS supports reductions in competitive pricing practices that can encourage heavy intoxication.
Elimination of advertisements in San Diego area college newspapers and on rock music radio stations, which attract young drinkers to the Tijuana drinking zone.
Public information tactics which allow parents to understand that their children are partying in Tijuana and what the consequences could be.

Community members and organizational leaders interested in more information regarding the Border Project can contact the Institute for Health Advocacy at (619)238-7034.

James Baker is the director of the Institute for Health Advocacy in San Diego, CA.

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