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Sacramento SNAPP Program Pays Off

Most alcohol-prevention projects are large, community-wide efforts with the intent of reducing alcohol-related problems such as assaults, automobile accidents, and other injuries. While these programs are effective in communities at large, certain neighborhoods within a larger community may benefit from more targeted strategies. For example, prior studies have shown that neighborhoods with a high density of alcohol outlets have more alcohol-related problems such as violence and drunk driving. Thus prevention efforts on the neighborhood level would benefit not only the neighborhood, but the larger community as well.

The Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project (SNAPP) was implemented in two problem neighborhoods in Sacramento. The primary goal of SNAPP was to reduce youth and young-adult (ages 15 through 29) access to alcohol, risky drinking and its associated problems, particularly in low-income, ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Both the North and South neighborhoods had higher rates of crime and assaults than the community at large and also had higher concentrations of bars and other alcohol outlets per roadway mile.

Committees consisting of local law enforcement officers, medical service providers, alcohol beverage control agents, community activists, parents, youth, and members of community organizations were formed to design intervention strategies tailored to the needs of the two neighborhoods. Presentations of research findings on alcohol and local statistics were given to community groups, and informational flyers and brochures on underage drinking were distributed at meetings and door-to-door within the neighborhoods. Additionally, local law enforcement conducted sting operations in alcohol outlets in an effort to curb alcohol sales to minors and intoxicated individuals, and a Responsible Beverage Service program was implemented to help retailers train staff in complying with alcohol policies.
Analysis of the SNAPP project showed declines in sales to minors in both neighborhoods. Efforts to reduce sales to intoxicated patrons were less successful, perhaps in part due to the fact that clearly defined laws against selling to intoxicated persons do not exist. The most positive finding of the SNAPP project was the significant reduction in assaults as reported by police and EMS officers in both the North and South sites. The program costs appear to be justified given the reductions in medical treatment, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other costs associated with assaults, as well as in reductions in sales to minors.

(Treno, AJ, Gruenewald, PJ, Lee, JP, Remer, LG: The Sacramento neighborhood alcohol prevention project: Outcomes from a community prevention trial. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 68: 197–207, 2007.)

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