STOP Act

Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act or the STOP Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act with respect to underage drinking. Expresses the sense of Congress with regard to addressing the problem of underage drinking.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to formally establish and enhance the efforts of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking that began operating in 2004. Requires the Committee to guide policy and program development across the federal government with respect to underage drinking. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Requires the Secretary to issue an annual report on each state's performance in preventing or reducing underage drinking. Requires the Secretary to develop a set of measures to be used in preparing the report on best practices and to consider including measures on whether a state: (1) has comprehensive anti-underage drinking laws; (2) encourages and conducts comprehensive enforcement efforts to prevent underage access to alcohol at retail outlets; (3) encourages training on the proper selling and serving of alcohol as a condition of employment; (4) has programs or laws to deter adults from purchasing alcohol for minors; and (5) has programs targeted to youths, parents, and caregivers to deter underage drinking.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to continue to fund and oversee the production, broadcasting, and evaluation of the national adult-oriented media public service campaign, if the Secretary determines that such campaign is effective in achieving the media campaign's measurable objectives. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Requires the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, subject to the availability of appropriations, to award enhancement grants to eligible entities to design, test, evaluate, and disseminate effective strategies to maximize the effectiveness of community-wide approaches to preventing and reducing underage drinking, if the Administrator determines that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is not currently conducting duplicative activities.

Requires the Secretaryof Education to: (1) award grants to eligible entities to prevent and reduce the rate of underage alcohol consumption, including binge drinking, among students at institutions of higher education; and (2) publish achievement indicators for the program.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, subject to the availability of appropriations, to collect data and conduct or support research that is not duplicative of research currently being conducted or supported by HHS, on underage drinking with respect to: (1) comprehensive community-based programs or strategies and statewide systems to prevent and reduce drinking from early childhood to age 21; (2) obtaining and reporting more precise information on the scope of the underage drinking problem and patterns of underage alcohol consumption; and (3) compiling information on the involvement of alcohol in unnatural deaths of persons age 12 to 20 in the United States.

Requires the Secretary to carry out activities to: (1) obtain epidemiological data within the national or targeted surveys that identify alcohol use and attitudes about alcohol use during pre-and early adolescence, including harm caused to self or others as a result of adolescent alcohol use; and (2) develop or identify successful clinical treatments for youth with alcohol problems. Requires such research to meet current federal standards for scientific peer review.

Authorizes appropriations.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov