Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Letters to Kerry
Stories of Victory, Struggle, Tragedy, & Workplace Concerns
September 13, 2007:
Gina's response to the Sept 12th Province newspaper article covering the Health Canada Report: Parents OK with teen drinking:
The most valuable message to youth through these parent-hosted drinking parties is to never drink and drive. However, while parents are clearly sending that message, assuming they also arrange for their safe transportation home, there are many other messages being sent at the same time. I fear that if drugs were legalized, some parents would set up similar venues for our youth to partake in a 'good' drug party. Alcohol is a drug, just as harmful and addictive as other drugs.
With parent-hosteded drinking parties, they don't get that message. If one single youth returns back home and gets in a car to go get a pack of smokes or drives over to see the girlfriend he just had an argument with, he would certainly not be safe, nor would be the neighborhood or the adults who allowed him to illegally drink on their property. You can imagine other incidents that could arise when youths are intoxicated.
Our "don't drink and drive" message gets lost in the message-by-action that is given: the adults in their world understand that youth want to drink alcohol, they believe that's okay, and though there are laws against providing them with alcohol, or allowing them to drink alcohol in our presence without their parents present, some of us are willing to break those laws to make sure they're 'safe'.
If it is okay for parents to break the laws in order that the youth can drink alcohol underaged, then why wouldn't they also break the drinking/driving laws. Do these youth have a clear vision of what laws are okay to break and what laws they must abide by?
Alternative:
I hosted a fundraiser for a dry grad celebration. The students participated. The event included a live band and mocktakils, which were made by the student 'bartenders'. There was no alcohol allowed, so the profits were lower, but the true investment was in our teens. We showed them with our own actions that it is quite possible to have a great deal of fun celebrating without drugs and alcohol.
Gina, a concerned Mom, BC, Canada
Just how medically safe is it for children under 17 to drink anyways? Here is a "don't-miss" recent compilation of studies on that topic from the American Medical Association: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/9416.html
We must not forget too that alcohol is a "disabler" and therefore used in sexual exploitation of young girls (and sometimes also boys).
– K
