The City of Lilburn’s Alcohol Compliance Rate is at 87%!

Last month was Alcohol Awareness Month. First sponsored and celebrated in 1987 by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), Alcohol Awareness Month was established under the premise of raising awareness about alcoholism and alcohol-related issues throughout the community. The month-long commemoration also aims to reduce stigmas associated with alcoholism while highlighting progress and assisting those who struggle with alcohol dependency.

Although alcohol awareness is stressed more heavily during the month of April, GUIDE tries to ensure that alcohol and substance abuse prevention is addressed throughout the year. For example, we work with municipal and county law enforcement to support compliance checks.

In the City of Lilburn, these compliance checks typically entail sending underage decoys into places where alcohol is sold, asking the decoy to attempt to buy alcohol without an ID and monitoring whether the store policies comply with the law and the store employee does not sell alcohol to the minor. If the underage decoy is successful in purchasing alcohol, the employee will receive a citation for selling alcohol to a minor, and the store’s owner will be required to attend the Alcohol Review Board meeting for a hearing.

The City of Lilburn Police Department conducted a compliance check on April 7, 2017. During this check, all 45 alcohol-selling establishments were visited, and six sold to the underage decoy. This is a compliance rate of 87%, which is an improvement from last year’s compliance rate of 78%.

At the Alcohol Review Board meeting, the retailers whose employees sold alcohol to the minor described what happened and how they plan to address the problem of non-compliance with the law. It is apparent that these compliance checks are effective in preventing underage alcohol sales because all six owners changed and/or strengthened their policies to create extra steps to assure their employees check IDs and do not sell to minors again. In addition, the Alcohol Review Board assessed each case and assigned penalties for each store, including: suspending the store’s alcohol license for 2-5 days, requiring attendance at follow up meetings with the Board and developing and following a Supervised Action Plan. For the next several months, the Board will be working closely with each of these retailers to ensure they are creating practices and policies, along with training their employees to check IDs and ensure safe alcohol sales.

As you can see, the City of Lilburn is extremely dedicated to preventing underage alcohol sales and sets high standards for alcohol retailers. GUIDE and the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services collaborate with the City of Lilburn Police Department in these prevention activities by providing funding and support because we care about young people in our community and want to keep them safe and healthy.

We would like to take the time to recognize and show appreciation to the stores that did not sell alcohol during the City of Lilburn’s compliance check sweep in April 2017. These stores are keeping our teens and the community safe.

Happy Hours, 495 Pleasant Hill Road #1

#1 Kim’s Shell, 490 Pleasant Hill Road

Lilburn International Farmers Market, 4805 Lawrenceville Hwy

The Kroger Company, 4155 Lawrenceville Hwy #2

Phillips 66, 5044 Lawrenceville Hwy

Taqueria Los Hermanos, 4760 Lawrenceville Hwy

Nevin Food and Gas, 722 Harbins Road

Walgreen's, 5455 Lawrenceville Hwy

Fast Freddies, 331 Rockbridge Road

Versace Dominican Restaurant, 510 Pleasant Hill Road

Buffalo House, 4299 Lawrenceville Hwy

The Citgo, 505 Pleasant Hill Rd

Publix, 375 Rockbridge Road

Shell Station, 32 Killian Hill Road

Texaco, 4785 Lawrenceville Hwy

Shell, 4971 Lawrenceville Hwy

Agavero, 4140 Lawrenceville Hwy

Messina's, 4075 Lawrenceville Hwy

Julia’s Columbian Food, 4044 Lawrenceville Hwy

Quik Trip, 3747 Lawrenceville Hwy

The Oyster Barn, 411 Beaver Ruin Road

Quick Mart, 28 Killian Hill Road

A Taste of Paradise, 4805 Lawrenceville Hwy

Lilburn Package, 501 Indian Trail Road

Cabana Lounge, 3907 Burns Road

Aldi, 396 Pleasant Hill Road

The Barn, 5364 Lawrenceville Hwy

CVS Pharmacy, 3900 Lawrenceville Hwy

Exxon, 5355 Lawrenceville Hwy

Taqueria Vicko’s Mexican, 4800 Lawrenceville Hwy

29 Package, 4132 Lawrenceville Hwy

CVS 5575 Lawrenceville Hwy

Lulu Quiroz, 3907 Burns Road

Sosa VIP Taqueria, 475 Pleasant Hill Road

Shell Gas Station, 5474 Lawrenceville Hwy

Royal Package, 5464 Lawrenceville Hwy

Bambi Properties, 4153 Lawrenceville Hwy

Joes to Goes, 605 Indian Trail Road

Izzy’s New York Pizza, 331 Rockbridge Road

GUIDE is a substance abuse prevention agency serving Gwinnett County since 1986. To find out more about GUIDE, please connect at guideinc.org.