SAMHSA Report Part ll: My Rant

My eye caught a recent article in the Chicago Tribune written about the recently released SAMHSA report (see my previous blog post for info on some of its findings).

What caught my attention however was a few things the article stated:

1. Parents and Social Services experts were not surprised of the finding from the report that kids are getting their alcohol from adults (parents, relatives, other friends).
2. People don't see this act as criminal behavior (Illinois recently enacted a law that makes serving alcohol at home to under aged kids a felony. Other states are also reviewing their laws in this area).
3. Some parents see this as a "rite of passage".

In addition, the article went on to identify one recent tragic event that spurred Illinois into changing their laws. The event occurred in Deerfield IL, where parents were convicted of allowing under age drinking at a party in their home. That party was blamed for an auto accident that killed two teens.

As a result, a group of activist parents got together to form a coalition to stop under aged drinking. Now here is the eye-opening part: the group had to disband because "parents in the group had trouble agreeing on even basic issues", the Chicago Tribune wrote.

OK, so hear me out here. These parents are obviously affected by this tragedy, form a group, meet, and can't decide what to stand for? Here's a clue: how about: STOP UNDER AGED DRINKING?!

What exactly is there to decide? What, did some parents say: "no, I think I'll let my kid drink when he's 18", or this: "hey, we did worse things when we were their age", or how 'bout this one: "hey, he can fight for our country but he can't drink?".

YES! He can fight for our country, but because that age has shown a prevalence of dangerous behavior when intoxicated, NO, he cannot drink.

Look, until we stop pussy-footin' around this issue, it will not go away. It is a felony in Illinois to allow under aged drinking in the home. The reason for that is because too many kids are getting killed or hurt when that occurs. So lets stop doing it. And no, its not a rite of passage to let them have a beer when they graduate high-school. That rite can be passed once he graduates college and turns 21.

We need to understand that for whatever reason, be it that teens feel they are invulnerable, or maybe they feel like" those bad things won't happen to me", or say "all of my other friends are doing it, why can't I?", we as parents, cannot allow under aged drinking.

Unfortunately, driving drunk is not a victimless crime. Many people affected by a drunk driver are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. When we as parents give the green light to under aged drinking, we too become guilty of whatever crime is committed by the youth. Think about that. Its just not worth it.