Minors consuming alcohol is one of the biggest problems in the United States, and even living in Utah can be really dangerous for many kids.

In fact, even if Utah has one of the lowest underage drinking rates in the whole United States, with around 13% of the kids drinking regularly before turning 21, out of 1.000.000 minors, more than 130.000 consume alcohol.

This is a major issue, because not only it compromises the health conditions of the kids, but it also means that many shops, grocery stores and supermarkets sell alcohol to people without checking if they are able to consume it legally.

To avoid and restrict this problem, in the last couple years, first the Tooele Police Department and from this year the Grantsville Police Department, are trying to find ways to catch people who sell alcohol to minors.

One of these tricks is to “hire” minors, who have to go from grocery store to grocery store with only one duty: buy alcohol.

One of these teenagers is Hannah Olsen, she’s a senior at GHS, and after hearing about this at a Criminal Justice lesson at CLC, and after speaking with Chad Valdez, a former Utah Highway Patrolman, she managed to take part of the program for the Grantsville Police Department.

Having such an important duty can be stressful and very scary for a high school student, but Hannah said, “It’s really fun to do it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s scary and something different, however, wanting to pursue a career in law enforcement and criminal justice is right up my alley”.

Hannah also said, “I know it’s for a better purpose to hopefully decrease alcohol intake of minors.”

In fact not only this project can be very helpful for Hanna’s future career, but also can be a very important step forward to end the consumption of alcohol between minors.