Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Implementation Initiative

The purpose of the project above is to reduce underage drinking and alcohol-related unintentional injuries and car crashes in Maine among persons under 21 years of age.  The program will aim to do this by:

• improving Maine’s system for analyzing underage drinking data to guide strategic planning,
• strengthening a statewide Underage Drinking Enforcement Task Force, and
• systematically increasing the effective and visible enforcement of underage drinking laws through enhanced research-based prevention and intervention programming.

By implementing these efforts statewide and within Maine’s eight Public Health Districts, this project will impact youths’ adults’, communities’, and public systems’ knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions around underage drinking and related laws. 

The proposed project will also improve Maine’s EUDL program by improving its capacity and readiness for:

• conducting assessments of both state and local underage drinking needs,
• developing a long-range strategic plan based on OJJDP’s recommendations,
• improving access to training for law enforcement, and
• increasing compliance checks and utilization of immediate, effective, and/or consistent consequences for underage drinking violations. 

The program will also prioritize evaluating and promoting the impact of the proposed program and Maine’s overall EUDL program to the public and other partners and stakeholders in the fight to reduce underage drinking.

To see the recommendations provided by the national assessment team, click here: OJJDP Assessment Team Recommendations

The full recommendation document is long and detailed. The following document is a condensed version that outlines the recommendations - Recommendation Summary

Word PDF