Zacatecas, México

Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) is a community-based approach to reduce the risks associated with the sale of alcohol off and on premise. There are four main elements for RBS: national, state, and local laws; establishment policies and procedures regarding the sale of alcohol; administration and training of personnel involved in the sale of alcohol (managers, waiters, vendors, bar manager, security, etc.); and compliance checks (undercover purchases and closing times: law enforcement).

The RBS intervention includes the Mystery shopping activities that is the attempted purchase of age-restricted products by young, legal-age shoppers in order to provide feedback on age-restriction compliance.

Project status
In 2016, Grupo Modelo, the local AB InBev company, piloted a mystery shopping program to improve Modelorama convenience stores’ compliance with not selling alcohol to minors. The initiative included replacing operators at stores who were found to habitually sell to minors. Heineken was also involved in training operators and launched a mystery shopper program at its Oxxo stores. 

In 2019, the program was enhanced to include clerk trainings, and an extension of training for staff of other small retailer as well as an additional round of sanctioning for non-compliance. Based on the number of stores likely to participate, it’s estimated that the reduction in stores selling to minors should increase from 12.7% to 40%.

This program is defined as a multi-disciplinary approach for reducing crime through urban and environmental design and the management and use of environments improvement. CPTED strategies aim to reduce victimization, deter offender decisions that precede criminal acts, reduce addictions and build a sense of community among inhabitants so they can gain territorial control of areas and reduce opportunities for crime and fear of crime and related problems.

Partner: Dra. Macarena Rau Consultancy

Project status
The project is in the process of budget estimation and planning. The intervention will take place in one or two neighborhoods in order to obtain results and a pilot that can be reproduced.

IBEM is a brief intervention based on motivational interviewing that seeks to identify problems with alcohol consumption and move users toward change by increasing their motivation and seeking to promote and reinforce non-consumption among those who don’t drink.

Project status
The program consists of three interventions over six months, each encounter lasting 15 minutes and taught to each student in a personalized way. The program has been rolled out in more than 90 schools since its launch in August 2019, impacting of more than 10,700 students to date.

Escalamos is the phased implementation of a program for the prevention and management of excessive alcohol use specially designed for the Primary Care sector. The program is based on the training of professionals and continuous support integrated into the municipal action plan based on community care.

Project status
In the last of 2019, an SBI intervention will be rolled out for 18 months to screen a targeted 37,000 adults across 14 health centers who are at risk of heavy drinking. Because the initiative will be built into the Zacatecas healthcare system, the team has invested in an approach that will ideally allow the program to continue after this initial phase.

In December 2016, meetings were held with representatives of the Government of Zacatecas’ Ministry of Health to pass a state law establishing a 10 p.m. curfew on alcohol sales for off-premises consumption and changing the last call at bars and restaurants from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Project status
In the first nine months that the law went into effect, mystery shopping showed that 42% of stores were closing at 10 p.m. or were open but refused to sell alcohol. AB InBev’s Modeloramas almost all closed by the curfew, accounting for 40% of all vendors that closed. Additional closings and sales refusals should increase quickly with planned intervention support, including increased publicity and signage, instructions to lock or rope off the alcohol section or cooler case for stores that remain open, operator and clerk training, and increased enforcement.

Based off of the Communities That Care programs—interventions grounded in principle of giving communities the tools they need to address adolescent health issues—this program complements, strengthens, and empowers the business community to make a collective effort to sensitize and efficiently guide workers and their children at the risk of consumption age.

Project status
Fourteen Zacatecas employers in Zacatecas have agreed to host a version of the Communities that Care program adapted for use in their businesses to reach 1,050 of the 25,000 Zacatecan youth at risk of underage drinking. Activities have been carried out since the beginning of 2019 across several companies.

Sobriety check points are interventions carried out by the State Security Police of the State Government which aim to reduce alcohol-related crashes by preventing drivers from driving under the influence through a perceived and actual increase in enforcement.

Project status
During this year, check points also improved their performance thanks to increased hours that last on the street as well as a random method of hours and locations. Grupo Modelo has provided breathalyzers, equipment, and bodycams and has promoted their regular use in random roadside breath testing since 2016. They have also gradually improved the data used to track and act on test results. The roadside breath testing program in Zacatecas and Guadalupe includes an average of 3-4 sobriety checkpoints weekly and more intense campaigns during holidays.

El Torito is a program that complements city’s frequent roadside breath testing, by offering a six to eight-hour detention for drivers who have been identified as under the influence of alcohol. While detained, the drivers may receive an SBI intervention through the local health system or other interventions aimed at reducing recidivism.

Project status
In the city of San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, according to an interview with the responsible authorities, a similar program was found to reduce drunk-driving crashes by 37%, virtually eliminated drink-driving fatalities, and reducing drink-driving recidivism to 2% over a four-year period.