While it’s no secret that many teenagers experiment with alcohol, some might be surprised by just how many teens are drinking and how simple they find it to get alcohol.
According to a survey by Project Community United to Reduce Binging — whether it’s from an unlocked liquor cabinet at home, a permissive family atmosphere, an older friend or sibling or a quid-pro-quo deal with a homeless adult — 77 percent of Santa Cruz County youths said alcohol was easy to obtain.
In the hopes of raising awareness of the problem of teen binge drinking, Project CURB invited a large and diverse cross-section of Santa Cruz County teens, parents, safety officers, government officials and educators to meet Oct. 26 for a community forum.
“I think that any time you can get members of the community together, it’s a good thing,” said Chief John Weiss of the Scotts Valley Police Department, who led one of the forum’s five focus groups. “It gets the message out that (teen drinking) is an important issue.”
The goal behind the forum at Simpkins Family Swim Center in Santa Cruz was to brainstorm ways to change the perception that binge drinking is an acceptable behavior for teenagers. Organizers hope to discourage businesses, parents, young adults and teens alike from adopting a permissive attitude toward the problem.
“Family is the starting point,” said Weiss. “Unless we find a way to reach parents and kids, we’re just spinning our wheels.”
Weiss urged families and community members to not accept teen drinking as inevitable and to set a good example themselves. He suggested that teens can feel validated in drinking when they see their parents take relaxed stances on alcohol in their own lives.
He also encouraged parents to be aware of both their children’s friends and those friends’ parents.
An increasing trend, Weiss said, is for parents to supply teens with alcoholic drinks in hopes that supervised drinking will be safer. According to Project CURB data, 86 percent of high school freshmen reported that having alcohol provided by adults they knew was the primary way to get alcohol.
Weiss cautioned that parents can be held liable for any underage drinking in their homes — whether they are home or not.
“It’s all fun until somebody gets hurt,” he said. “Then it becomes very serious very fast.”
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