BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Underage booze drinkers would no longer face the prospect of jail time and they may not be required to attend alcohol intervention programs under a pair of proposals being considered by the North Dakota Legislature.
The legislation comes as alcohol use by North Dakota teens is among the highest in the nation, state health officials say. And despite decades-long campaigns aimed at stopping underage drinking, it remains an issue that more than 90 percent of adults in the state have identified as a problem in their communities, state surveys show.
Backers of the legislation say it gives judges more leeway in dealing with the problem.
Democratic Rep. Zachary Ista, who also is a state prosecutor based in Grand Forks, said his bill is intended to bring the penalty for underage drinking in line with the sanction for marijuana use.
Lawmakers last session killed legislation that sought to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and instead approved a bill that no longer makes possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana a criminal misdemeanor. It now is considered an infraction that carries up to a $1,000 fine.
Ista’s bill has bipartisan support and came at the request of the five judges in the Northeast Central Judicial District, he said. The freshman lawmaker called it a matter of “fundamental fairness.”
Under current law, anyone under 21 who “consumes, purchases or possesses an alcoholic beverage” may be charged with a class B misdemeanor, carrying up to a $1,500 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
The proposed legislation would make it an infraction, that carries up to a $1,000 fine with no possibility of jail time.
Ista called current penalties heavy-handed and said they’ve done nothing to reduce teen drinking. And a minor with a criminal record, as they would have under current law, has “a lifelong albatross around their neck,” he said.
Underage drinkers convicted under current law also must complete a program aimed at intervention.
A separate bill from Republican Rep. Shannon Roers Jones of Fargo would not require a judge to order the treatment.
“What I’m trying to do is give judges more discretion,” said Roers Jones, who also is a co-sponsor on Ista’s bill.
Studies have long shown North Dakota’s rate of alcohol dependence and abuse is among the highest in the nation, while at the same time its residents have the lowest perception of a problem when it comes to drinking, said Pamela Sagness, director of the Department of Human Services’ behavioral health division.
Sagness said while some progress has been made, alcohol remains the state’s No. 1 abuse problem, followed by marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and synthetic opioids.
The binge drinking rate among North Dakota teens remains among the highest in the nation, she said. A recent study found 15.6 percent of North Dakota high school students had five or more drinks in one sitting within the past 30 days. The national average for binge drinking was 13.5 percent.
Sagness said she doesn’t disagree with lowering the penalty to an infraction for underage drinking. But she said the treatment component of the sentencing requirement at present has been largely successful and she will oppose it.
About 452 minors completed the “early intervention education course” last year, she said. Eight of them had taken the class more than once, she said.
Roers Jones, who wants to remove the requirement for the course, said she worried that it may create an economic hardship for some.
Sagness said financial assistance and vouchers are available for those required to attend the classes.
“There are solutions we can offer,” she said. “We’ve made great progress but I don’t want us to go backward.”
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