Social
Host Ordinance
Currently, the Social Host Ordinance is implemented in two
of our Goodhue County communities, Red Wing and Kenyon. It is
our
hopes to have this ordinance implemented throughout all Goodhue County
communities so we are proceeding with discussions with local city
officials and key individuals within each of the communities to stress
the benefits of the ordinance.
The Social Host ordinance recognizes that:
- Persons under
the age of 21 primarily obtain alcoholic beverages through social
sources such as parties. The parties are held in homes, garages,
apartments, hotel and motel rooms, outdoors in vacant lots and on
agricultural or rural lands—on all types of private property.
Parties are a common location for binge drinking by teenagers and
college students.
- Consumption of
alcoholic beverages at parties on private property exposes persons
under 21 who attend the parties and the neighboring community to
increased alcohol abuse by underage persons, accidental injury, driving
under the influence of alcohol, injuries and death from motor vehicle
crashes, violent crimes including physical fights and sexual assault,
public drunkenness, vandalism, excessive traffic and noise, and
obstruction of public streets, all of which may require intervention by
local law enforcement.
- All persons have
a responsibility to prevent the number and frequency of parties at
which underage possession and underage consumption occur. Parents,
landlords, tenants, hotel/motel operators, campground owners, social
hosts, and young persons themselves share a responsibility to ensure
that persons under 21 are not allowed to use private residences or
other private property—apartments, condos, hotel rooms,
campsites, etc.—to possess or consume alcoholic beverages.
- The social
hosting of an underage drinking party poses an immediate threat to the
public health, safety, and welfare and should be treated as a civil
violation, a criminal violation, or a combination of both. The penalty
should be sufficiently swift, certain, and severe to have a deterrent
effect on underage drinking.
- Law enforcement
responses to disturbances involving underage consumption of alcoholic
beverages at parties at or on a private residence or other private
property frequently require the extensive use of enforcement personnel,
reducing resources from, and increasing the crime risk in, other parts
of a community. The ordinance allows communities to impose law
enforcement costs incurred in responding to out-of-control parties on
the persons most able to prevent them from occurring in the first place.
S.A.F.E. (Safe Alternative
for Everyone) Project
The Chemical
Health Initiatve partnered with local Law Enforcement, Goodhue County
Public Health and other
key contacts to bring the citizens of Goodhue County a prescription
drug disposal program. Prescription
and over-the-counter medications are creating both a public health and
an environmental issue. Mis-use/abuse of medications is an
alarming and growing trend. Too many teens and young adults
are using medications not prescribed for them; pain killers such as
OxyContin and Vicodin, anti-anxiety medications and stimulants.
The S.A.F.E.
program is a way to get rid of any
unneeded medications in family medicine cabinets or elsewhere in the
home. Improper disposal of medications is also creating
environmental issues by tainting groundwater, rivers and streams.
Fish and other wildlife are showing signs of undesired
changes due to exposure to medications.
The goal of this project was and is to provide the citizens of Goodhue
County a
secure location where they can properly dispose of outdated or unneeded
medications - prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and
animal medications.
There are two drop off locations available, one in Red Wing
located in the
front entrance of the Goodhue County Law Enforcement Center and the
other in Wanamingo at the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office.
Below are the addresses of the drop off locations:
Goodhue County Law
Enforcement Center—Lobby: Red Wing Site
430 West 6th Street, Red Wing, MN 55066
Available 24 Hrs. |
Goodhue County
Sheriff’s Office: Wanamingo Site
401 Main Street, Wanamingo, MN 55983
Available Monday-Friday 8am—4:30pm |
Sticker
Shock Campaign
The Red Wing and Cannon Falls CHI Councils along with the CHI staff
recently implemented the Sticker Shock Campaign throughout
their respective communities. In late October and early
November 2010, the Red Wing and Cannon Falls
councils partnered with local student groups and off-sale liquor
establishments on the Sticker Shock campaign. The campaign
was implemented in the Kenyon-Wanamingo and
Zumbrota communities in May 2010 and was a great success.
Please visit their local council pages
for more information
and to view pictures of the event.
The
Sticker Shock Campaign is designed to reach adults who might
purchase alcohol legally and provide it to minors. Stickers
warning about the penalties for
furnishing alcohol to minors are placed on all multi-packs of beer,
wine
coolers, and other alcohol products that might appeal to underage
drinkers. For more information regarding the Sticker Shock
Campaign, visit http://www.abc.state.va.us/Education/stickershock/sticker_shock.html#sticker.
Reference
Documents:
Sticker
Shock Campaign Poster
Sticker
Shock Campaign Guide
Sample
Sticker
Future
Projects and Strategies
For the 2010 Drug
Free Grant Application, the Chemical Health
Initiative of Goodhue County evaluated the top chemical concerns
throughout our county and developed logic models to address each of the
concerns. Below are links to these logic models that will
provide the detail behind our strategy and approach for addressing
these key concerns.
Alcohol
Use Logic Model
Marijuana
Use Logic Model
Prescription
Drug & OTC Medication Misuse Logic Model
