Extreme teenage drinking a growing problem?

Two Rohnert Park 15-year-olds partied with small groups of friends, no adult supervision and plenty of vodka.

The girl in May and the boy in July tapped unknown shoulders at grocery stores and persuaded adults to buy the booze. The teens each drank at least 20 ounces, the equivalent of about 13 shots, and suffered alcohol poisoning so severe that medical officials feared for their survival.

To the surprise of doctors, the teens, unidentified because they are juveniles, both lived.

The two cases reported by Rohnert Park police highlight the dangers and severity of teen drinking, Sgt. Art Sweeney said.

They also show discretionary treatment of underage drinkers who, the same age, in the same city, having drunk the same amount, face different consequences.

The girl was arrested June 18 on charges of public drunkenness and illegally possessing alcohol after a six-week investigation, Sweeney said. The boy likely will not be charged.

"There was a different temperature to them, a different flavor," Sweeney said. "In one, we were able to see that it was best dealt with as a diversion counseling issue. The girl was nearly dead, and we thought it was a crime."

Within the justice system, consideration is given a teen's history, blood-alcohol level, best opportunity for recovery, and how well the teen helps in an investigation, all of which can lead to different treatment of similar cases.

Widespread problem

Law enforcement officers, school officials and parents all say underage drinking is a major problem in Sonoma County.

Among high school juniors in Sonoma County, 54 percent, or 1,796 students, reported having been "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" at least once on the 2004 to 2006 California Healthy Kids Survey. Eight percent of seventh-graders, 319 students, said they had been.

This month, Santa Rosa Police have arrested three boys and one girl under the age of 18 on charges of public drunkenness or possessing alcohol.

Last year in Rohnert Park, one juvenile, on average, was arrested each week on charges of underage drinking. Many more teens were released with a warning and no formal report, such as the boy whose vodka binge sent him to the hospital.

"One of our officers taking a juvenile home or otherwise releasing them to a parent is by far the most common way the cases are resolved," Sweeney said. "This reprimand and release does not create a formal report."

For alcohol counselors, law enforcement responses that range from a ride home to a ride to Juvenile Hall make it difficult to convey the message that alcohol is illegal for teens.

"There is inconsistency to some degree," said Diane Davis, program manager of counseling and prevention services at West County Youth Services. "If these kids are caught by law enforcement with alcohol, there needs to be a citation."

Some teens said they are more likely to be warned than cited.

"When they catch you, they just pour out the rest of your drink," said one 17-year-old in Santa Rosa.

"They might warn you and say next time you're going to get a ticket or something, but it never happens," said another.

Davis said students tell her of many more kids who are warned than are arrested or cited.

"Police officers want to give kids a second chance. But having a consistent response is important. If it's inconsistent, the message is that you might get away with it sometimes."

Few go to court

Approximately 700 teenagers a year are seen on drug and alcohol citations and arrests, said Sheralyn Freitas, the Sonoma County Probation Department's deputy chief of field services. The department does not distinguish between alcohol and drug offenses.

Few of the teens are summoned to court, many are requested to call the probation department and most are sent from there to community-based alcohol education programs, Freitas said.

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said he would not speak to specific cases, including those of the Rohnert Park 15-year-olds. But he said a number of people, from the police officer who spots a teen with alcohol to the intake officer at Juvenile Hall, have the discretion to treat a teen with varying levels of severity.

Behavior a factor

That some teens would be referred to probation while others are warned, is the result of how teens behave following their drunkenness, Sweeney said.

If a teen immediately provides information about where the alcohol came from and cooperates with law enforcement, that plays a major role in how cops proceed with the case, Sweeney said.

The girl and friends she partied with were not forthcoming about where the alcohol came from, Sweeney said.

In the boy's case, "people there were willing to talk to us," Sweeney said, adding that the boy cooperated with police officers immediately.

Because of that difference, the girl, treated for alcohol poisoning May 3 and arrested June 18, is facing charges.

She nearly died of an alcohol overdose after she filled an empty 20-ounce Gatorade bottle with vodka and drank it straight before wandering off to a nearby park, according to police and friends.

At Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, her blood-alcohol level was 0.578, seven times the level for drunken driving, and doctors feared she would not live through the night.

The boy, treated for alcohol poisoning July 31, will likely be referred to counseling, if anything, Sweeney said.

"There was no crime," Sweeney said. "It's unlikely he would be charged. If anything, he would be referred to a counseling situation."

Friends of the boy told police he drank seven double shots of vodka -- totaling about 21 ounces -- in 15 minutes before an ambulance rushed him from Benicia Park to a local hospital, Sweeney said.

But though the boy drank nearly the same amount of vodka as the girl, he was likely not as drunk, doctors said.

His blood-alcohol level likely did not soar to the lethal levels recorded in the girl because body chemistry differences allow men to tolerate more alcohol than women with fewer effects, said Dr. Anthony Boyce, a chemical dependency specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa.

Still, drinking seven double shots in 15 minutes would have had a significant impact on the teen's body, said Boyce, who did not treat either teen.

"Men tend to tolerate alcohol better and can get away with drinking more," Boyce said. "But that's still a heck of a lot of alcohol in a short period of time."

Boyce said the teen likely passed out and vomited, but whether or not he suffered other consequences, such as asphyxiation and choking, is unknown as is any guess as to what his blood-alcohol level could have been, other than "lethal."

Sweeney said the boy was released from the hospital Aug. 1.

Because he was cooperating with police and not as "close to death as the girl," there was no police report and no record of his blood-alcohol level, Sweeney said.

"We are dealing with the parents and child from a diversion standpoint but not a prosecution one," Sweeney said.

Meanwhile, the girl, now likely in the juvenile probation system, could be facing her actions before a judge and sentenced to counseling as well as community service, a counselor at a local youth services program said.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.ALCOHOL ABUSE

BY THE NUMBERS

Among high school juniors in Sonoma County, 54 percent, or 1,796 students, reported having been "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" at least once on the 2004 to 2006 California Healthy Kids Survey. Eight percent of seventh-graders, 319 students, said they had been.