This doesn't square up:

"Underage drinking parties are on the rise countywide, and parents are hosting them at an alarming rate, said Capt. Thomas Didone of the Montgomery County Police Department."

"It is unclear how many parents have been found guilty of providing alcohol to minors or hosting drinking parties. The Montgomery County State’s Attorney did not return calls for comment and police were unable to provide the information."

If you want furthur information call Nancy Horst@ Guide in Gaithersburg. They provide the court ordered counsel for DJS.

I live in Friendship Heights, so I'm gonna say no. I'm not sure I've even seen a teenager in the neighborhood. Outside of that, MoCo wide, unless there's been an increase in teenagers lately (which is possible) I doubt it's an issue. Teens are going to drink. Period.

I know that this happened when my kids were in high school. I was an employee of their school so parties were forbidden in my house. I have to say, that I still believe they're going to do it anyway...I'd rather them stay in and off the street-if that can be controlled. How to do that is the $64,000 question. Drinking has been going on for generations-the difference is that more kids have cars and mobility. I grew up in the "18 for beer and wine" era and we all went to Georgetown in high school. That piece hasn't changed and it won't. Somehow the accidents and fatalities have increased-that's the problem. I wish I knew the answer!

That's definitely an argument I've heard a lot, Diane -- that if kids are going to drink anyway, it might as well be somewhere safe. But even if the party is at a house, the kids had to get there somewhere, which more often than not involves a car.

If safety is the biggest issue, what do you all think the answer is?

Collect keys in a basket upon arrival. Lock up the basket of keys. Return said keys after brunch the next day.

Katie-we've lost kids, seen the horrors of this but I still think that being available for them is far better than believing that it won't happen. I cannot tell you how many parents I knew that said "oh my kids don't drink," PLEASE!! Are you kidding? Of course there are some but the vast majority participate to some level. Stephen-I like your idea and had friends that did just that. Keys to hold, house alarms set (so nobody can escape at 3:00 a.m.) and a good breakfast in the morning. As in every other aspect of their lives, parents need to be involved, proactive and participatory! I don't have the answer but leaving them to their own devices has not proven to work!

And then, there's the possibility that if kids don't have any drinks in high school, will they totally rebel and drink a lot once they get to college, away from their parents? I saw a lot of that happening when I was in college.

Prohibition does not work. We can educate our kids on the perils of intoxication, but we can't stop it any more now, than we could when I attended Walt Whitman years ago. Take away the alcohol and kids take drugs. Police resources should be spent on catching the criminals that are running amok. Robberies and burglaries are up and the cops are spending their time arresting kids for drinking beer. Declaring adolescence a crime won't eradicate it, but it's a lot easier and profitable hassling kids and issuing alcohol citations than catching criminals.

Thank you for an important article. As a grandparent of teens in the County, I appreciate your coverage of the dangers of alcohol. Too many of us are unaware of the following properties of alcohol.

1. Alcohol is carcinogenic. See NIH List of Known Human Carcinogens

2. Alcohol is addictive

3. Alcohol, from the very first drink, interferes with the exercise of self control and good judgement -- especially among teens.

4. Drinking and driving causes many deaths and serious injuries to teens and other members of the community.

Please keep up the good work.

It's a Catch-22, really. If parents permit kids to drink in their homes -- we'll call it a 'controlled situation' although the level of supervision undoubtedly varies -- those parents are strung up as villains, enabling underage drinkers.

If kids are drinking unsupervised at house parties -- say with their guardians out of town similar to the Whitman house party from December that was busted -- the kids are the villains for breaking the law and making their own bad choices.

Consider this question: Underage drinking will never cease to exist, but who should be held more accountable -- parents permitting kids to drink in a controlled environment or the kids consuming alcohol -- and should laws be changed to reflect that?

We have had many excellent comments regarding teens and drinking. Drinking in excess is a problem. Underage drinking is a problem, drunk driving is a problem, decision making while drinking is a problem, and violence is often associated with drinking.

However, I do have a problem with criminalizing alcohol possession and consumption by persons 18, 19, or 20 years of age.

If one is old enough to be in the Armed Forces, old enough to be held criminally accountable as an adult, sue or be sued, old enough to marry, then one is old enough to drink.

Katie,
Interesting comment. I do believe alcohol abuse will occur in some way shape or form, regardless of what we do as a society.
I think here in the U.S. we have do have a cultural issue with alcohol that tends to heighten the excitement for teens to experiment with it or experience it. In other countries as you state, perhaps the stigma of alcohol is lessened because it's a little more excepted in a social atmosphere.
Prohibition didn't work and in fact may have made things worse for future generations.
I do know this much......if you tell a young person that they are "forbidden" to do something.....then odds are you have just turned on the green light in their head.

On last night's local news, there was video of Montgomery County Police raiding a house in Bethesda, chasing down fleeing kids, and handcuffing some of them. The stormtrooper response was way out of proportion for a Whitman party where the big crime was minors drinking beer, and some supposedly some people were smoking weed. We can't let Montgomery County turn into a police state in pursuit of protecting our kids from themselves. The police need to focus on real crime and not enforcing prohibition for kids. That's the job of parents.

Frank, black clad police squads are raiding high school parties as if they are busting up major criminal enterprises and you're splitting hairs over semantics. I believe the problem is more important than what word we use to categorize these humans under the age of 21.

jnrentz1:

I understand that underage drinking is against the law. In this forum I'm voicing my opinion and that doesn't make me wrong. I believe that police enforcement against these private parties is way too heavy handed, repressive, and getting completely out of hand. If this level of enforcement is the end result of the way the laws are written, I believe the laws should be changed. I believe that it's repugnant that the decision has been taken by the government to enable over zealous law enforcement. Montgomery County didn't used to be a police state, but it's rapidly turning into one with black-clad strike teams raiding high school parties and speed cameras popping up everywhere.

This is a great discussion that puts a serious issue squarely on the table. I have been following with great interest. When we were raising our kids in Chevy Chase in the 1970s there was not a forum like this and while the problem existed it was not as freely discussed. In my opinion, good comes when people talk openly about the problems - whether they agree or not. I am sure more people are reading this than may be posting so hopefully some talk over coffee at Starbucks has been started by Patch.

I agree, to a point about raids in residential areas. Many years ago, when my now adult children were in high school, a friends home was visited by law enforcement. This was an affluent subdivision where life was quiet. When the police asked my friends husband if there were kids drinking in the house, he explained that his daughter had some friends over and everything was under control, which it was. He proceeded to explain that perhaps their energies would be better served by knocking on doors of residents in a nearby apartment complex where drug dealing was known to exist on a continuous basis. Perhaps the priorities need to be reevaluated in some instances.

It is not appropriate to teach kids that breaking the law is okay by parents having drunken teenage parties. I know it is more fun to be your kids friend but what they need are parents. Of course some will do things they are not supposed to anyway.

Some kids also shoplift. Should parents shoplift with them to make sure they do it safely?

jnrentz1:
You say in response to my post:
"your complaint against the actions of the police is misdirected. If you do not like the police response, get the law changed, until such time the police will do their job, and that includes enforcing laws against under age drinking."

It is unreasonable and absurd to say that my condemnation of police tactics and the way they do their job is misdirected. Why not criticize the police for their enforcement tactics? It is their behavior that is being taken to task. Why not criticize the law too if you disagree with its execution? Furthermore, what is your source of information for the claim that the police's teenage drinking flying squad only responds to citizen's complaints?

Native;

It is not unreasonable for me to say your unjust criticism is wrong.

The enforcement tactics are justified and acceptable.

The behavior of the police is outstanding.

"Why not criticize the law too if you disagree with its execution?"
I have no response as I do not understand your statement.

I have direct personal knowledge of how this police squad operates, and will not explain further.

I too agree that our police force is outstanding. To "Will" I never hosted or supplied alcohol for teenage parties-let's not confuse the issue. If my kids had friends over, no matter the reason, keys were taken and kept! Kids were invited to stay the night (just as they were when they had sleepovers at 9 yrs old)...I checked on my kids, provided snacks and retired at a reasonable time. I did not supply alcohol but I was not to naive to know that they could've at any point, had it. Being aware and prepared is different than supplying and condoning. For the record, my kids do not believe I am their friend...to the contrary, they probably still find me to be opinionated and meddling-ha!

I was amazed when watching the news last night how many parents, when summoned by police to come pick up their children, actually chewed out the police, harassed the news media and how many yelled at their kids not for the fact that they had been drinking (drugs also found in the house) but fact that they (their kids) didn't run from the police. My Lord! What parental example! Those kids don't stand a chance when they are learning not only parental approval to illegally consumer alcohol but also learning 'flee tactics' from law enforcement. Scary isn't it...not so much the kids but WHAT (not who) is raising them!

Parents were upset by the spectacle of a teenage beer party being turned into a major police action and media circus. The police action was not outstanding. It was a completely out of proportion with the crime and parents were right to be outraged that the police brought the media along to sensationalize the event. Remember, the parents were on the scene and not just viewers of an edited news story like those passing judgement here. These heavy-handed police state tactics need to be stopped.

Native:

You are wrong, again.

The police action was outstanding, and their tactics are not heavy handed.

What needs to be stopped is teenage drinking parties.

When teenage drinking parties are stopped, then the police can devote their resources to something else.

Yes, the police action was outstanding as an example of the encroaching police state in Montgomery County. Teenage parties with drinking will never be stopped, as anyone short of a prohibitionist knows. So police resources are going to continue to be misdirected forever according to your logic. Meanwhile, we are having a a rash of robberies, burglaries, and carjackings in the county while the Chief Manger complains of a shortage of police.

Your said in a previous post "I have direct personal knowledge of how this police squad operates, and will not explain further." One can only draw the conclusion that if that is true, you are directly involved in this enforcement activity and biased, or a liar.

Native:

You have shown yourself to be excellent at the labeling and ad hominem attacks.

Because of that coupled with your advocacy for criminality I am done with you.

Dear All,
Scientific research shows that the adolescent brain, especially the frontal lobe and other high functioning areas of the brain,continues to develop until age 26. Researchers, physicians, mental health professionals recommend that one should DELAY onset of use of drugs such as alcohol to reduce the possibility of addiction.
If one were to begin alcohol use at age 14, the risk of addiction is 37 percent. If you begin consuming alcohol at 21, the risk drops to 9 percent. Of course, one must factor in an individual's own family history of alcoholism, as there is a genetic component to this affliction. Moreover, parents' rationales that it is best to monitor their teenager's consumption of alcohol prior to entering college so as to decrease the risk of binge drinking is bogus. Moreover, citing the Europeans as an example of an enlightened approach to the introduction bears no support for the view that these countries are without adolescent/university student alcohol issues; they have the same problems with binge drinking and have national media programs on the subject. No one is suggesting that the use of drug such as alcohol, the consumption of which IS legal if you are 21 and older should be prohibited outright. The central issue is that consumption of alcohol by minors, without parental consent and presence, is illegal, and hosting for minors is illegal, and hosting parties for minors so that they can imbibe "safely" is illegal.

Some of the people I went to high school with (Gaithersburg, Class of 1976) are now parents (or even grandparents in some cases) themselves. Since they had drinking parties, then, methinks they would have drinking parties now for their own kids.

The theory is that if you host a drinking party, you can handle it better than just hoping that your kids will not go out on their own and be behind the wheel.

We need to hear about more arrests of minors and their parents to get others to re think their agenda.

In a nutshell, I decided many years ago, that I would rather have "controlled independence" for my children in regards to alcohol when I was but a phone call away. What kind of parent would send their child off to college and let their first experience with alcohol be an out-of-hand frat party? Illegal? Yes but my kids knew the affect alcohol would have on them and how to monitor that. They also knew to call me at any time for a ride when they were in high school...I even passed that along to their friends who I did pick up on occasion-Safety was and is paramount. By the time my kids got to college, they knew what to expect and consequently, we had NO problems with alcohol!!

My had a whiskey sour almost every day when he came home from work. My mother maybe drank some wine with dinner once in awhile. They would serve beer with picnics at the house where I grew up. They had a liquor cabinet with a lock. My father tied to teach me about alcohol tolerance when I was younger by having me drink an orange juice class with beer during ball games. I tasted it and said, "Gee, Dad, I think I'll go make a sandwich". I would go into the kitchen and pour the beer down the drain.

I never did like alcohol. Can't tolerate it beyond one small glass of beer today.

That's not class but glass ... sorry

We live in a nanny state.

I guess by now folks have forgotten the field parties with the Strap Gang and Strohs Gang

I'm not sure what the drinking age, or the alcohol abuse rate, is in France, but I do know that it's not uncommon over there for parents to give their young children very watered down wine at dinner. What if more US parents adopted this approach? Let their children drink very mild wine every so often? It might satiate whatever urge they have to drink outside of that, and therefore their kids might not be so urged to go to keggers run by their friends. They wouldn't be going to adult hosted drinking parties, either, which would evidently help that problem. Kids WILL drink, and kids WILL drink young, because they are told they cannot, and teenagers naturally rebel. So why not give very, very, very watered down wine to your kids from time to time, and not portray drinking as some taboo activity, which would only tempt the individual further?

Parents who supervise the drinking are definitely not entirely to blame. In fact, It's the parents who are ignorant to their children's behaviour and turn a blind eye to the realities of teen partying that enable the parties. It makes it a lot easier for teens to drink if they know their parents won't suspect anything when they get home. It also means parents are giving the keys to their cars to their teens who are going to drink.

It works kind of like cursing; if parents don't make it a bug deal and allow cursing in their house it becomes less cool, less of a novelty, and the kids who grew up with that attitude will find more creative language. If the parents who open their homes to supervised drinking are also taking a moment to remind their kids of all the things @Louis Lombardo mentioned, it will sink in. Teens won't stop drinking but they may be bore responsible about it.

It seems as if most of the people in this discussion are the parents. Are you talking to your teens about this or are you just stating your opinions on a blog? We teens are a lot smarter than people give us credit for, and most of us can handle a discussion like this. I suggest you talk to your own teen about being responsible before you start telling other parents and the law enforcement what to do.

I agree with Native's first comment. The most important thing we can do in situations involving underage drinking is make sure the younger generation is highly educated on the possible disasters drinking lends.

I am a high school student and, like Ellouise Schoettler suggested, I feel that both my peers and my authority have continually stressed the danger that constantly lingers over you when you are under the influence of alcohol.

Is there a problem with underage drinking? In general, no. I agree with Jnrentz1 here when they talked about the difference in being old enough to be in the Armed Forces, vs. being old enough to consume alcohol. Age is truly just a number that we have used to base many laws off of. The problem, though, is that young people are new to life. Many of us haven't learned things the hard way yet. The problem is that teens are often not taken seriously enough or educated enough, and in turn they don't take drinking seriously.

I'll stress again that I am a high school student. I have a lot of friends that take drinking very seriously, and I credit that to the fact that they talk openly about it with their parents.

You have all been generalizing teens. It's true that there are many teens that do not take drinking seriously, but it is also true that there are many teens that take drinking more seriously that many adults do. That is another example of the fact that age is often just a number.

The issue our country and country faces here isnt a problem with "parent enabled drinking", its a problem our culture has with the idea of drinking. Kids are going to drink, and parents should introduce them to alcohol at an earlier age so when they hit high school and their friends say "hey lets go get hammered" they can say "why? If I want a beer I can just go home and have 1 with my dad..." The more you protest against the idea of underage drinking, the more its going to happen, and this county and country have more pressing matters to deal with. Cops in Montgomery County need to spend less time sitting on their lazy asses busting underage drinkers and more time dealing with actual crime.

I believe that you may be wrong declaring that it is an "actual crime" under all circumstances. In Maryland, isn't consumption of alcohol by a minor legal in a residence if the alcohol is provided by the parent with their consent? Isn't there also some kind of an exemption for religious purposes too?

"Many years ago, when my now adult children were in high school, a friends home was visited by law enforcement. This was an affluent subdivision where life was quiet. When the police asked my friends husband if there were kids drinking in the house, he explained that his daughter had some friends over and everything was under control, which it was. He proceeded to explain that perhaps their energies would be better served by knocking on doors of residents in a nearby apartment complex where drug dealing was known to exist on a continuous basis."

This, in a nutshell, is the overall problem. Because it's kids in the affluent parts of Montgomery County getting arrested, people are upset. If kids in lower income area evidenced the same behavior, people would be saluting the police. Did anyone really pay attention to the Ch. 9 story? Including the part that the party house was filled with the smell of marijuana? Affluent kids are doing the same things that poorer kids do; they just have more money with which to do it.