Buyers Beware

In 2004 The Division of Liquor Enforcement started the Buyers Beware campaign to address the leading supplier of alcohol to underage youth in New Hampshire. We use the Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered by DHHS to help guide our public outreach campaigns. The survey has shown year in and year out that the leading supplier of alcohol to New Hampshire's Youth are legal adults.

The Division has combined the Buyers Beware program with New Hampshire's law on facilitating a house party. The two messages are a campaign to inform adults that when of-age adults give or supply alcohol to underage youth it's a criminal offense. At times the supplier may even be the youths' parents or of age relatives.

National statistics about social hosting mirror what is seen here in New Hampshire

Statistics about Social Hosting

72 percent of teens who drink alcohol don't pay for it
For teens who got alcohol in the past six months, parents were the supplier three times more likely than a stranger
Teens say it's easy to get alcohol from their homes without parents knowing it
Two out of five teens say it's easy to get alcohol from a friend's parents
One in four teens has been to a party where teens drink in front of parents
One in four teens, including one in three girls, say their own parents have given them alcohol

New Hampshire's Law on Facilitating a house party can be found on the link below

RSA 644:18 Facilitating a Drug or Underage Alcohol House Party

In New Hampshire it is illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under 21 regardless of the circumstances.

If you provide alcohol to a minor, you could face a $2,000.00 fine and a year in jail.

When it comes to buying alcohol for minors in New Hampshire Buyers Beware

If you are interested in Buyers Beware posters or PSA, please use the links below to download a copy.

Posters

Adobe Acrobat Reader format. You can download a free reader from Adobe.

Audio file.

NH Liquor Commission, Division of Enforcement
50 Storrs Street | Concord, NH 03301
(603) 271-3521