County Marks 25th Year of ‘We Check for 21’

COURT HOUSE – The We Check for 21 Program officially started in Cape May County with three training and information sessions recently hosted by Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson and freeholders at The Wildwoods Convention Center.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the program that originated in 1993. It has since been implemented statewide. The initiative that coined the slogan “If you’re too young to buy, don’t even try” originally had forty businesses involved. Two decades later over 700 staff participated in the kick-off, according to a release.
The program featured a fake identification training session by Joseph Vasil, identity document specialist; and a report on the Memorial Day Weekend Turn-Away program.
NJ State Parole Board Chairman James Plousis, who started the program 25 years ago when he was sheriff, also spoke.
For the 15th straight year, during Memorial Day weekend, a Card & Count Turn Away initiative was conducted.  Nineteen liquor store licensees documented and reported the total number of underage persons who were refused the purchase of alcohol.
The data indicated that 190 individuals were refused the sale of alcoholic beverages based on their failure to prove that they were at least 21.  From 2002 through 2017, a total of 5,444 youth were refused a sale.
Pierson stated, “The turn-away count is even more significant if you assume that each turn away had two friends that would have drank with him/her.  The number would then triple to 16,332 kids in the past 15 years who were declined access to alcohol on the Memorial Day weekend.  In my view, these numbers are staggering and genuinely reflect the success and impact this campaign has made.”
The We Check for 21 program is a collaborative effort bringing together the public and private sectors of the county in the fight against underage drinking. 
The program has been successful in raising awareness that underage drinking is not tolerated in the county.
The campaign educates persons 16-20 years old about underage drinking. 
Underage drinking is punishable by a fine of no less than $500 and loss of driver’s license for a minimum of six months.
Pierson added, “A promotional campaign which includes road signs, flyers and radio and television commercials is conducted to spread the word about We Check for 21 in Cape May County.”
The program is sponsored by the Cape May County Municipal Alliances for the Prevention of Substance Abuse in cooperation with the freeholders and funded by a grant from the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
Others involved in this effort include Cape Assist and a grant from New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Harrison Beverage, the Cape May County Licensed Beverage Association, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office and the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association.