California public school students will get additional coursework on the harms of alcohol in 2025, thanks to a new law from a former lawmaker whose DUI arrest inspired her legislation.
In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2865 by former Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, whose DUI last year helped derail her political career.
California schools are already required to provide instruction about alcohol, narcotics and other dangerous drugs. This bill would require that schools also provide instruction about the short- and long-term harms of excessive drinking — including alcohol’s link to chronic diseases, mental health problems and deaths.
As she pitched her bill to her colleagues in 2024, Carrillo told them that it was important for students to learn about alcohol’s consequences in the hopes they don’t go down the path she did.
“I wish I would have known in high school what I know now,” she said at one hearing. “I would have made different choices.”
On Nov. 3, 2023, Carrillo crashed into parked cars in Northeast Los Angeles. Police said her blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, according to the Los Angeles Times. She ended up pleading no contest to the DUI in the middle of her race for Los Angeles City Council, which she lost. Because she ran for city council, Carrillo left her Assembly seat this year.
Carrillo said her DUI was a wake up call for her. She said she started going to therapy and became sober. As she reflected on her life, she said her own struggles with booze began at an early age. And she was troubled by how prevalent alcohol is in society, despite its documented dangers.
(With information from CalMatters)
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