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Article Excerpt
ON A TYPICAL WEEKEND EVENING, up to 2,000 youths (ages 20 and younger) and young adults (ages 21-25) cross from El Paso, TX, into Juarez, Mexico, to drink and return late at night to their homes. That most of these young people (ages 18-25) cross the border to drink is evident from the results of our border surveys conducted since 1998. Over the last 7 years, our research team has been studying youthful Americans who cross into Juarez to drink on weekend evenings. There, the minimum legal drinking age is 18, and the bars catering to these youths encourage heavy consumption through low prices and tolerance of drunken behavior (Lange and Voas, 2000; Lange et al., 1999; Voas et al., 2002b). Our research has revealed that 40% of returnees between midnight and 6 AM have blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) higher than the .08% legal limit, and many of these returnees then drive for more than an hour to their homes (Baker, 1997; Lange and Voas, 2000; Lange et al., 2002).
Over the past 7 years, our surveys have evaluated several programs and policies, undertaken by authorities on both sides of the border, aimed at reducing cross-border heavy episodic drinking (Kelley-Baker et al., 2000; Romano et al., 2004; Voas et al., 2002a,c). One policy in particular demonstrated a significant reduction in the number of youth returning to the United States with positive BACs (Voas et al., 2002b).
On January 1, 1999, the governor of Chihuahua ordered the bars in Juarez to close at 2 AM rather than remain open until 5 AM. This policy change occurred while our breath-test surveys were being conducted on youths returning from Juarez to El Paso on weekends between midnight and 6 AM. Consequently, we were able to determine whether that change in policy affected the number of U.S. residents crossing into Mexico and their BACs when returning to the United States before and after its implementation. That study was undertaken by Voas et al. (2002b), who compared the 1999 survey data (the year of the change) with 1998 survey data (the year before the change). They found that the number of drinkers returning from Juarez late at night (after 3 AM) declined by 89%, and the number with a BAC [greater than or equal to] .08% decreased by 92%.
Six years have passed since the Voas et al. (2002b) study; therefore, it is time to evaluate the long-term effects of the early bar-closing policy. Particularly relevant is the evaluation of the sustainability of that policy over time. The literature shows many examples of alcohol-related policies that, once implemented, achieve an initial success that is followed by a progressive decay. In a seminal book, Ross (1984) describes how many enforcement programs aimed at deterring drinking and driving achieved initial success, but, after the drivers adjusted their expectations to the new reality, the effectiveness of the policy faded.
The policy we evaluated in this study differs from those investigated by Ross (1984), because it does not aim to deter drinking and driving but rather to limit access to alcohol. There is an ample array of such policies, from minimum-age restrictions (e.g., Grube, 1997) to outlet restrictions (e.g., Gruenewald et al., 1993). Although different in theoretical support and operational characteristics from the deterrence model described by Ross (1984), the literature shows that laws and ordinances aimed at limiting access to alcohol may suffer from decreasing maintenance and enforcement over time, and thus follow the same pattern of initial success and subsequent decay (e.g., Single, 1994). Voas et al. (2002b) demonstrated that the earlier bar closing in Juarez initially reduced not only the numbers drinking late at night in Mexico but also the total numbers of youths crossing into Juarez to drink. Was that success sustained 6 years later?
Objective
As 6 years have passed since the initial Voas et al. (2002b) study, we aimed to re-evaluate the effect of the 2 AM bar-closing policy change in Mexico 7 years after its implementation. Our specific research questions were as follows: (1) Is the early bar-closing policy still being enforced? (2) Have the number of youths returning from Juarez remained at the reduced levels measured in 1999, the first year of the policy change? (3) Have there been any changes in the characteristics of the crossers (age, gender, school/ work status)? (4) Is there any relationship between the number of youthful cross-border drinkers and hospital admissions of underage youths for alcohol-related problems? Our goal was to investigate the sustainability of a policy that showed initial success, looking for clues that will help practitioners and decision makers maintain this success over time.
Method
Survey design
In...
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