At home, under the watchful eye of a parent, is assumed by many to be the safest place for teenagers, especially when peer pressure and social temptations around alcohol begin to emerge.
But local health and law enforcement officials say home is emerging as the dominant source of alcohol for teens intent on experimenting. And they are urging parents to open lines of communication with their teens while exercising vigilance over what goes on under their roof.
"It's really important that parents have conversations with their kids before the teen years," said Diane Davis, coordinator of the West County Coalition for Alcohol and Drug-Free Youth. "It's against the law, it's not good for them, it can harm their body that is growing up — their body and their brain."
Some cities, including Petaluma, Sebastopol and Sonoma, have adopted social host ordinances to give law enforcement officers additional tools to combat underage drinking in private residences. Parents can be cited if they are found to have hosted a party or turned a blind eye to young people drinking alcohol on their property.
"These ordinances are being adopted across the country because young people are reporting that the primary source of availability is social availability. They are getting it from friends and they are getting it from home," said Michael Sparks, a Petaluma-based consultant on teen drinking and social hosting ordinances.
"The reasons we are focusing on these settings is because the amount of alcohol that is being consumed is astronomical," he said.
According to the most recent California Healthy Kids Survey, conducted in 2008, which reports teen health behaviors, 51 percent of high school juniors in Sonoma County reported having been "very drunk or sick from drinking alcohol" at least once, higher than the statewide figure of 40 percent.
The death last week of a 14-year-old Santa Rosa girl who reportedly drank soda spiked with vodka during a sleepover with friends has reignited discussion among health care professionals and law enforcement officials about what parents and communities can do to protect teens, even in their own homes.
"The medical professionals will tell you that there is a reason why 21 is the drinking age and that is because that is when the brain development matures," said Capt. Dave Sears of the Petaluma Police Department.
In Petaluma, violators of the city's social host ordinance are fined $100 for a first offense and $250 for a second. The amount can rise to $1,000 within a 12-month period, with payment of the costs of having police respond to calls where underage drinking has occurred added in.
Social host ordinances also are meant to combat the practice of some parents who say they would rather have their children drinking at home under their watchful eye than sneaking booze in a park or a car somewhere.
That is misguided, Davis said.
"Drinking is drinking, so no matter what setting you are drinking in, you are still consuming alcohol," she said. "Despite the effort to monitor, they can't monitor everything ... Parents who say they are going to host a party — it's illegal. They are breaking the law."
In cities with such ordinances, it is easier for officers to cite property owners when officers determine underage drinking has occurred at a home.
Typically, officers can use the law on hosts who knowingly allowed underage drinking. But those who say they didn't know the teens were drinking, but reasonably should have, also can be cited under most social host ordinances.
"Our ordinance also puts the onus on adults to take reasonable steps to safeguard and prevent access to alcohol by minors," said Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett.
State law regarding minors in possession of alcohol only applies to public places, according to Sackett, and the law regarding contributing to the delinquency of a minor can be hard to prove.
"So many municipalities and counties are ... realizing that there is a kind of a gap in state law so they are enacting local ordinances to address them the best they can," Sackett said.
A key to combating dangerous behaviors is common sense and communication, he said.
"Kids, I think, know a lot more than we give them credit for," Sackett said. "I don't think you can ever be too early to have that conversation and set up expectations and develop rapport. I think not doing so puts your child at a disadvantage."
Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.
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