Free Alcohol Locks

(Photo taken by Waynesville ABC staff) Waynesville ABC store manager, Mark Strugnell, welcomes Mountain Projects Prevention Manager Libby Ray, as she places a display rack for alcohol locks. Mountain Projects gave away more than 1,500 free locks for bottles, cabinets and refrigerators around western NC during 2025. This prevention strategy is meant to reduce access to alcohol for those who are underage.

By Lorrie Ross

Mountain Strong Prevention team

Locking up beer, wine, and other alcohol may not be something many people think about doing. Yet, the Mountain Projects prevention team was able to give away 1,500 free bottle and cabinet locks in 2025, which encouraged more people to secure their alcohol from those who should not use it, including adolescents.

Reducing underage drinking is one of Mountain Projects’ primary areas of focus for prevention, and secure alcohol storage is one of several evidence-based prevention strategies. The Mountain Projects prevention team, known as Mountain Strong, wants more people to think about monitoring and securing alcohol, while also having conversations with young people in their lives.

For the Mountain Projects prevention team, the project began a few years ago when they partnered with Haywood County ABC stores. Together, they piloted a project to distribute free alcohol locks in the Waynesville and Canton stores. Those distributions went well, so funding from the Bryson City ABC Board was used to help bring the alcohol lock distribution to Swain County in late 2024.

Then in 2025, the Mountain Projects alcohol lock distribution project was able to expand into Clay and Cherokee counties thanks to a grant from Community Impact NC. Participating ABC stores each have a display rack containing an assortment of bottle locks and cabinet locks. In addition, signage and literature encourage customer awareness about underage drinking prevention.

Mountain Projects supplied each ABC store in Bryson City, Hayesville, Murphy, and Waynesville with locks an average of ten times during 2025. Locks were given out at some community events as well. Many adults at the events commented they had not thought about securing alcohol until they saw the free locks.

Johnny Crisp, store manager for Bryson City ABC, thinks the program is a success. “The locks that were provided have been very popular,” Crisp said. “I believe people are taking a real stand to prevent underage drinking.”

Monitoring and securing alcohol is important because two out of three youth surveyed say alcohol is easy to get from their home or the home of a relative or friend.

In addition, information from Talk It Out NC explains how the younger a person starts drinking, the greater the likelihood they will misuse substances later in life. The chances of developing a substance use disorder are 41 percent higher for youth who start drinking before the age of 15, according to the site.

Plus, adolescent alcohol use can increase health problems like inflammation, as well as damage the learning and memory areas of the brain.

While Mountain Projects’ CINC funding ended on November 30, ongoing support from local ABC boards will be used to help continue lock distributions, as well as other initiatives to prevent underage drinking.

“This allows us to distribute more locks,” Mountain Projects Prevention Manager Libby Ray said. “Making it easier for people to securely store alcohol in their homes.”

Hayesville ABC store manager Denny Patterson is retiring but has partnered with the Mountain Projects prevention team for several projects during all of his years there. “Customers seem appreciative and receptive to the goals of Mountain Projects,” Patterson said.

Mountain Projects, Inc. is a nonprofit agency whose Mountain Strong prevention team covers the counties of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain. To learn more about underage drinking prevention and other primary substance misuse prevention programs, visit mountainstrongwnc.org.