Drinking Laws in the Virgin Islands; Fact or Fiction?

Drinking Laws in the Virgin Islands; Fact or Fiction?
By Jill A. Wagner
Feb. 23, 2009

When asked how he felt about the drinking laws in the Virgin Islands, St. Croix native Kurt Alexander, age 20, replied in a calm, nonchalant tone of voice, “What drinking laws?”

This seems to be the overall attitude concerning the alcohol regulations in the US Virgin Islands. A US territory with self proclaimed liberal drinking laws, the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix may all technically be American soil but one quickly realizes that island life is far removed from the strict laws of the mainland.

Statistically speaking, drunk driving kills. According to the Supreme Court collection of legal cases at Cornell Law University, every year, “approximately 15,000 fatal alcohol related crashes occur, accounting for roughly 40% of all fatal crashes.” The question here is which laws are best for keeping these numbers down. Do drinking laws actually do what they are supposed to do or do we need to focus our energies on other ways of keeping the public safe?

Exchange student Lauren Wingard reflected on this issue by saying that she “was very surprised to find that it was legal to drink and drive on St. Thomas. It was so different from back home in Raleigh [North Carolina]. I don’t think it’s a good idea. The laws don’t seem to have the public safety in mind.”

The United States federal government has had the public safety in mind these past 20 years. The US feds have made extreme attempts to crack down on the occurrence of alcohol related deaths and injuries. The drinking age in all 50 states was raised to 21 in the late seventies and new laws such as Open Container laws and Dram Shop/Social Host Liability laws began to be put into place throughout the US throughout the past 20 years. Both of which directly influence the allowance of drinking while driving and drinking heavily before driving.

Dram Shop/Social Host Liability laws have been one of the most extreme changes in the legal system by turning the blame on the server not the drinker. These kinds of laws make it possible for any bartender or other server to be blamed or held responsible for damages caused by the drinkers they serve, effectively putting the fear of God into every bartender and restaurant worker in the states.

And it doesn’t stop there. The federal government took extra steps to ensure that states complied with the new alcohol awareness. According to www.drunkdrivinglawyers.com, “in 1998 the federal government took steps to encourage states to enact open container laws by passing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which required states to enact open container laws by October 1, 2000 or lose a portion of their Federal-aid highway construction funds.” Today, only six US states have failed to form any open container laws. States such as Connecticut, Delaware and Virginia are among the six that refrained from enacting such laws. Surprisingly, however these states are not among the highest in alcohol related deaths. These six states hover around the 40% national average for alcohol related traffic deaths.

The stats, in all actuality, add up to reveal that the states with the strictest alcohol laws are those with the highest percentages of alcohol related traffic deaths sitting just over 50%. The top three highest are South Carolina, South Dakota, and D.C., and according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, all have administrative license suspension on the first DUI offense, increased penalties for high blood alcohol concentration, and repeat offender laws, among others.

With laws like these becoming the norm in the states, visitors to the islands are feeling the difference. Most simply look at the laid back laws as a reflection of the laid back lifestyle that takes precedence in much of the Virgin Islands, but others find it to be a severe form of negligence. Baltimore [Maryland] resident turned exchange student, Kia Cox, matter-of-factly pointed out that the drinking laws on the island of St. Thomas “suck because they pretty much advocate drinking and driving…You could kill somebody that way.”

The US Virgin Islands, as well as other US Island territories such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, have extremely lenient alcohol laws that are relatively un-enforced by the local police force.

Virgin Islands University Professor Dr. Kimarie Engerman, native to St. Croix, stated that she has “never heard of a young person getting a DUI (driving under the influence). It seems I’ve only heard of maybe a few older people getting them.” When asked how she views the drinking laws in the Virgin Islands versus those in the US she tells that “it’s [drinking in the US] like it’s something that kids can’t wait to do because they are not allowed to for so long. It is a big to-do in the US.”

Though some of the locals, such as Dr. Engerman, are at ease with the drinking laws and levels of enforcement, they are quite adamant about their stance against drinking and driving. “I don’t agree with drinking and driving at all,” Says 36 year old Angela Mills, a student and native to St. Thomas, “they do it all the time though.” When asked who does the majority of the drinking and driving on the islands Ms. Mills goes on to point out that “the locals don’t view drinking as a big deal and don’t abuse it as much as those that visit the island.”

With tourism being the driving force of the island economy, those that visit the island add up to a large number: over two and a half million tourists flood the islands each year. The University of the Virgin Islands, with campuses on both St. Thomas and St. Croix, can add roughly 2500 students from all over the world.

With all these visitors experiencing the drastic change in drinking laws, abuse can run rampant. UVI student Beth Leonard, age 23, reflected while sipping her morning coffee that, upon coming here, she was “surprised at how little the locals were drinking and partying. It was the foreigners that were taking it to the extreme and pushing all the limits.”

She went on to say that she sees the drinking laws in the Virgin Islands to be “legitimate because people are going to drink no matter what. If you allow casual drinking, people will drink casually. The more you constrict the laws the more abused alcohol becomes.”

The laws, in this case, aren’t the problem. The problem the Virgin Islands, and other places like it, must face is the stream of foreign minds and bodies roaming their streets in search of a good time. On first glance the Virgin Islands can seem like a lawless paradise, a wild west with palm trees if you will, but the culture has a delicate balance. There will be alcohol abuse wherever there is alcohol.

The drinking laws of the islands give foreigners an inch and the foreigners in turn take a mile.