Utah Dept. of Health: Utah Public Health Outcome Measures Report

Alcohol: Binge Drinking

Binge drinking of alcohol is defined as drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion in the last 30 days. Binge drinking is an indicator of potentially serious alcohol abuse, and is related to driving under the influence of alcohol.

• Utah's binge drinking rates are four to six times higher than the national HP2010 goal for adolescents.

• Thirty local law enforcement agencies have received grants to improve underage drinking enforcement.

• Many secondary schools provide alcohol use prevention activities for their students. In 1999, mini grants were awarded by the Utah Departments of Health and Public Safety to 30 schools for such activities.

• The Utah Safe and Sober Youth Coalition helped develop and sponsor the creation of four radio spots on underage alcohol use prevention in 1999.