Alcohol

Click on a link below to jump to each topic on this page:

  Alcohol and Crime, the Nexus
  Community Norms
  Alcohol Outlet Density
  Alcohol on San Diego Beaches
  Alcohol Beverages on Billboards

Alcohol and crime, the nexus

·        27-36% of convicted rapists were drinking at the time of the offense (Trauma Foundation)

·        40% of all fatal crashes in California involve alcohol (World Health Organization)

·        50% of beds are occupied by patients who are injured while under the influence of alcohol (Beth Sis, Scripps Mercy Hospital)

·        60-70% of batters were intoxicated at the time of the incident (Women’s Resource Center, Oceanside, CA)

·        One alcohol outlet will result in an average of 3.4 additional violent assaults per year  (Tanglewood Research)

·        Alcohol outlet density (the number of outlets in close proximity to one another) affects drinking styles, norms and consumption more than age, race, gender and level of education combined.

·        Areas with greater numbers of drinking establishments show higher rates of alcoholism  (NIH 2003)

Community Norms

·        Community norms or standards are associated with the social acceptance of heavy consumption or binge drinking

·        The drinking habits of young people are formed by community norms and expectations about drinking.

Alcohol Outlet Density

·        Pacific Beach has 219 alcohol outlets (based on census tracts) where ABC guidelines indicate 67 are “allowed”

·        The more on sale premise outlets (restaurants), the more drunk driving (Freisthler and Stewart, The Shop on the Corner:  How Outlet Location Affects Alcohol Problems, 2005 unpublished)

·        The more on-sale premise outlets (restaurants), the more DUI’s and traffic crashes (Gruenewald et al, 2002).

·        The more on-sale premise outlets (bars), the more pedestrian injuries when pedestrians had been drinking (LaScala et al, 2000)

·        The more on sale premise outlets (bars), the more severe assaults/violence (measured by hospital discharges) (Lipton & Gruenewald, 2002 and Freisthler and Stewart, The Shop on the Corner:  How Outlet Location Affects Alcohol Problems, 2005)

·        The more on-premises outlets in cities, the more assaultive violence/violent crime (Scribner et al., ’95 and Gorman et al., 2001)

·        The more off-premise outlets, the more violent assaults, (Alaniz et al.,1998).

·        The more off-premise outlets (liquor stores, markets and gas stations), the more accidental injuries and traffic crashes among underage youth (18-20) (Freisthler and Stewart, The Shop on the Corner:  How Outlet Location Affects Alcohol Problems, 2005 unpublished)

Click here to find out more about Alcohol Licenses->Alcohol Licenses

Alcohol on San Diego beaches

·         San Diego beaches have become a destination for underage and binge drinking, where unlike bars or restaurants there is no one checking ID’s, refusing to sell to already inebriated individuals or refusing to over-serve customers.

·         San Diego beaches have become a designation for out-of-towners as one of the last counties in the state that allows drinking on all three of their public beaches

·         The Public drunkenness and obscenity are not prevented through enforcement

·         Arrests and citations among beach service areas are clearly indicative of a failed policy to continue to allow drinking on San Diego beaches.

·         Three years of attempting to manage over a million visitors on Mission and Pacific Beaches over the 4^th of July with 300 police officers and nearly $1 million dollars of limited funds has not changed either the perception or the reality that Pacific Beach is still the place to go for getting drunk, and misbehaving

·         La Jolla Shores, Carlsbad, and Imperial Beach all reported significant reductions in crime when they eliminated alcohol consumption on their beaches. 

·         The City of Del Mar implemented a 36-hour ban on alcohol consumption over the 4^th of July on their beaches in 2002 citing years marked by major disruptions as a result of the over-consumption of alcohol.  Del Mar reported very few alcohol related incidents in ’03, ’04 or ’05 and in 2006 the City opted to implement the alcohol ban for the entire weekend (the maximum allowed by the ordinance) and achieved widespread compliance. 

·        “I am supporting a 24 hour restriction on the consumption of alcohol at our city beaches.  From 1998 to 2000, the communities of Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach accounted for approximately 40% of all alcohol-related arrests and citations citywide.”  David Bejarano, Chief of Police, April 3, 200l City of San Diego Memorandum to Honorable Mayor and City Council.

Alcohol Beverages on Billboards:

There are restrictions for billboards that advertise alcohol-related products located within 500 feet from child care centers, libraries, playgrounds, recreation centers, or schools; or billboards that are more than 500 feet and the billboard face and its advertisement is clearly visible from where children commonly congregate at a child care center, library, playground, recreation center, or school.

If you find a billboard to be in possible violation and you wish to report it, complete the form available on the City’s website -> http://www.sandiego.gov/nccd/pdf/reportinclusion.pdf