Guest Column

Parents should take lead to curb underage drinking

By SHERRI DUNHAM
Published May 14, 2007

As the end of another school year draws near, there is excitement in the air for our Pasco County high school students. For juniors, there is the excitement of anticipation of their approaching senior year. For seniors, events such as proms, graduations and year-end parties are creating lasting memories.

During this time of celebration, it is important for parents to continue to provide their teens with good lessons. While these students are ready to start making decisions on their own, they still look to their parents for guidance. This is a time when you should not relinquish your authority as a parent.

The Student Services Department of the District School Board of Pasco County encourages parents to sit down with their teens and openly discuss the dangers of illegal underage drinking. Teenagers must understand that alcohol-related crashes and death by alcohol poisoning continue to claim the lives of our young people.

Parents should set clear expectations about underage drinking. It is against the law.

Other parents may not always be acting in your child's best interest. Some parents may sanction graduation parties where alcohol is readily available. A parent who has adopted the misguided strategy that "I would rather they drink in front of me than behind my back, " has pretty much guaranteed that they will do both.

Open house parties involving underage drinking are illegal. The Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention of Pasco County, or ASAP Pasco, is the county's anti-drug coalition, whose most recent initiative is the implementation of "Parents Who Host Lose the Most" media campaign against underage drinking. The goal is to raise awareness of the laws against underage drinking, as well as the consequences of providing alcohol to underage people.

As a reminder, Florida State Statute 856.015 Open House Parties states:

"No person having control of any residence shall allow an open house party to take place at said residence if any alcoholic beverage or drug is possessed or consumed at said residence by any minor where the person knows that an alcoholic beverage or drug is in the possession of or being consumed by a minor at said residence and where the person fails to take reasonable steps to prevent the possession or consumption of the alcoholic beverage or drug."

Any person who violates this law commits a second-degree misdemeanor.

Should you become aware of a situation involving adults sanctioning underage drinking, please call the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

It is our responsibility as members of the Pasco County community to come together in an effort to keep our children safe. By working together, we can secure the bright futures of our precious youth.

Sherri Dunham, supervisor of prevention programs and safe & drug-free schools with the Pasco School District, submitted this article on behalf of the district's Student Services Department.

[Last modified May 13, 2007, 21:09:21]