Underage liquor sales decline
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Liquor sales to underage people on O'ahu have dropped by nearly half since last year, a Department of Health survey released yesterday indicates.
The "Underage Alcohol Sales Survey," conducted in March and April, involved using people ages 18 to 20 as decoys to try to buy alcohol from 308 randomly selected businesses.
Of the 308 stores visited, 59 sold alcohol to the underage people. That's significantly lower than a similar "sting" operation last year, when underage youth were able to buy liquor in 116 of 296 stores.
Elaine Wilson, chief of the state Department of Health's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, said the decrease is largely a result of last year's sting, when law enforcement officials for the first time began citing those caught in such an operation. In 1999, businesses that sold alcohol to sting participants were given warnings instead of citations.
"I think people saw that the law was going to be enforced, and I think people really took notice," Wilson said.
An undercover police officer and Honolulu Liquor Commission investigator accompanied the decoys involved in the sting. Police cited store clerks who sold the alcohol and those cases have been referred to the city prosecutor's office, Wilson said. Store clerks who sell alcohol to people under 21 can be charged with a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $2,000 and up to a year in jail.
Liquor commission investigators also cited store owners, who face penalties of up to $2,000 or revocation or suspension of their liquor licenses.
The survey, conducted by the University of Hawai'i Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i, showed that the decoys were less likely to be sold alcohol at stores that asked for their ages or IDs or posted warning signs. But the operation still caught some store clerks selling alcohol to sting participants even after they asked their age or saw their IDs.
"If someone said how old are you and you say you're 20, and then they sell to you, it really shows that we have a social norm that it's OK to sell" to underage people, Wilson said. "There's a lot of work to be done in this area."
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
