June 25, 2023

By Luisa Barrios

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth (TxSDY), Texas’s leading advocacy coalition on youth underage drinking and substance use prevention, hosted a local West Texas community forum Thursday, June 22, targeted at addressing youth alcohol use.

TxSDY released findings that demonstrated that the sale of alcohol on a to-go basis has resulted in serious and yet preventable consequences, in particular for underage youth.

Partnering with local leaders and prevention advocates, TxSDY’s forum focused on targeted approaches specific to the El Paso and West Texas communities.

The event, which was held at Altopiano Events, was co-hosted by the local organization Border Substance Abuse Council (BASC).

“The local community plays a critical role in working to address underage drinking and as this new data shows, the risks are more serious than ever with alcohol sold to-go,” said Nicole Holt, CEO of Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth. “From parents to educators to law enforcement, it’s our responsibility as adults to do everything possible to keep our kids safe. Working together, we know we can create positive change. We urge decision makers in El Paso and across the state to join us in putting our youth ahead of business interests and improve safeguards and compliance.”

The forum provided information about local alcohol to-go sales, which found the following:

• 95.6% of the time alcohol to-go was ordered for delivery or pick-up, no ID was requested.
• Most of the time, a staff member at delivery or pick-up made contact with the customer but failed to ask for any ID verification.
• 1 out of 4 alcoholic beverages was NOT in a tamper-proof cup or container.

The event also provided resources and tools to support local community engagement and policies.

“The realities of underage drinking and intoxicated driving affect our local community in devastating ways, and yet we continue to see policies that create new challenges to protecting our kids from alcohol access and use,” said Mary Ellen Hernandez, director of Border Substance Abuse Council (BASC). “But we know that — working collaboratively and with targeted, localized strategies — we can make a positive difference and save lives. Our hope is that today’s event inspires us all to continue to work together for our families, our neighbors and our youth.”

The El Paso event is part of a series of regional forums TxSDY regularly hosts across the state. The events seek to facilitate introductions between stakeholders in the community, increase collaboration and engagement and mobilize participants to reduce underage drinking and impaired driving in a coordinated and strategic way.