Under a newly passed New Hampshire law, which has already been passed in several other states, underage drinkers walking on the street risk losing their drivers licenses for possessing alcohol — in their stomachs — even if they are not carrying alcohol containers.
Eddie Edwards, chief of liquor law enforcement for New Hampshire, said this law does not intend to increase the number of arrests.
“This law is about saving lives,” he said.
According to the law, if minors refuse breathalyzer tests they can lose their licenses, yet if they test positive for alcohol consumption they can still lose their licenses, Edwards added.
“The license piece is really to help control the underage drinking,” he said.
According to Thomas Hafemeister, associate professor at University of Virginia Law School who also wrote a book addressing laws regarding underage drinking, the law states that the typical punishment for a crime is supposed to be proportional to the behavior.
“If you are just walking intoxicated, to lose your license is disproportionate,” he said.
UVA law professor Richard Bonnie said this law potentially infringes upon basic civil liberties.
“Aside from special rules regarding driving while intoxicated, our society does not punish a person for having a substance in their body in large part because it offends basic principles to search a person’s body for evidence of the crime,” he said.
Edwards said this law was enacted in an effort to reduce alcohol-related problems in underage drinkers, such as alcoholism and drug abuse, which young people are four times more likely to develop than adults.
“The most compelling reason is to provide officers with tools at night to properly assess young people and decide whether they need help or not,” Edwards said.
According to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving website, “the brain does not finish developing until a person is around 20 years old, and one of the last regions to mature is intimately involved with the ability to plan and make complex judgments.”
Massachusetts has been cracking down on alcohol abuse since 2005, beginning with Melanie’s Bill, which increases penalties for drunk drivers within Massachusetts. The state also increased the penalties for using false identification to buy alcohol and requires all keg purchasers to report their names and addresses.
However, Allison Mitchell, press secretary for Timothy Cahill, who oversees Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission for Massachusetts, said the state does not have a law parallel to the one in New Hampshire, where underage drinkers can lose their license for internal possession. However, underage drinkers caught driving with a blood alcohol level between .02 and .05 can lose their license, she added.
Anthony Maiola, chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, said New Hampshire is trying to stiffen underage drinking by holding their parents responsible.
“Kids aren’t coming into the stores, they are taking it from their bars at home,” he said. “It starts at home.”
Hafemeister, who also wrote the article