« Confessions of a Serious Drunk Driver

Tweet

Underage Drinking – Illegal even Under the Roof!

June 13, 2011
Author: Chris M. Alexander

There are many states in the country which are very strict about underage drinking and it can lead to serious consequences. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 30 percent of teenagers between ages 12-20 are prone to alcohol consumption. Statistics indicate that teens tend to start their alcohol consumption experience as early as 12 years which accounting to about 4.2 percent.Underage drinking among teenagers doubles every year, with 40 percent of 17-year-old reporting use alcohol at least once a month.

Consumption of Alcohol by Teenagers at Home

Most of the time these teenagers get their alcohol from bars and liquor shops but state laws also indicates that they get it from their homes as well. According to a study conducted by the Century Council, 65 percent of underage drinking teenagers are able to access their alcohol from relatives or friends under the roof and only 7 percent of them get it from retailers.

Consequences of Underage Drinking for Parents

Though most of the states maintain laws that enable teenagers to drink at home in the presence of their parents or guardian, in 2005, South Dakota Governor, Mike Rounds announced that parents can be convicted if they host parties which encouraged underage drinking. They have implemented the law that providing alcohol to a minor is a Class A misdemeanor with serious legal consequences.

Some states like Colorado, Florida, and Virginia have already passed laws which indicate that the licenses of adults would be suspended for 90 days if they provide or help underage drinkers to get alcohol. As parents, it is their responsibility to take care of their children and give them proper guidance.

Responsibilities of the Parents for Underage Drinking

Parents often feel that giving permission to their teenagers to drink at home is safer as they can monitor the consumption. They also feel that if they are role models to their children in terms of moderate drinking, then their children will also follow this. But this is not the case at all times as in most of the cases teens drinking with their parents at home are prone to it outside the home as well. They also tend to consume more than those who do not drink with their parents.

Parents are Responsible for Underage Drinking at Home

According to the social host liability laws, parents are responsible for underage drinking in their home and they are liable if the teenager meets with an accident or causes an accident. They are also civilly liable as it can lead to a civil lawsuit if they allow their children under 21 to drink alcohol. Social host laws is state specific and is dependent on the state where the underage lives, but parents are financially responsible for their medical bills, property damage and pain and suffering if an accident is caused due to alcohol abuse by their underage child.

Therefore, parents should not encourage consumption of alcohol at home and should monitor them if they are getting into alcohol abuse and warn them about the consequences.

Tags: Teenage Drunk Driving, Underage Drinking

This entry was posted on Monday, June 13th, 2011 at 5:26 am and is filed under Teenage Drunk Drivers, Underage Drinking . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.