Parents given inside look at dangers of teen drinking
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Most parents don't have a clue about the dangerous and illegal activities that go on at teen parties, experts on underage drinking said last week.

A panel of medical, legal and law enforcement officials and advocates assembled at Adolfo Camarillo High School on Tuesday to discuss with some two dozen parents the widerange of dangerous consequences caused by underage drinking and drug use.

The evening event was part of the Parent Teacher Student Association's Red Ribbon Week of anti-drug/anti-alcohol activities.

School Principal Glenn Lipman said that about two dozen students were expelled last year for having drugs on campus. Although fewer students were expelled the year before, Lipman attributes that to the school's zero-tolerance drug policy that's netting more students.

The good news

Parents asked Lipman to clean up what they saw as a drug problem at Camarillo high when he arrived two years ago. Since that time, the school has enacted a zerotolerance drug policy- students caught on campus with drugs are arrested, suspended from school for five days and usually face automatic expulsion for two semesters.

Additionally, the city of Camarillo offers a $50 reward to students who tell authorities about drugs on campus when the information leads to a conviction.

And occasionally drugsniffing dogs are brought on campus to uncover drugs that may be hidden in lockers and cars.

Lipman said the drug situation at Camarillo High is improving.

"I think we're taking a bite out of crime," he said earlier this week.

The bad news

But others are saying the situation with underage drinking has worsened and parents are unaware of just how bad it's gotten.

Most parents know that teen drinking can be one of the results of a teen party but may not know about the binge drinking games and sexual assaults that often occur.

An improv group known as Straight Up Ventura County reenacted for the audience on Tuesday real-life situations that often go on at house parties.

One example is the drinking game of Beer Pong, where the loser takes a gulp of alcohol every time they miss tossing a pingpong ball into a cup, and High and Low, a playing card game that requires a chug of alcohol when a player chooses to go "low."

The Straight Up Ventura County program, funded by the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department, tries to get a dialogue going among parents about the issues involved in underage drinking and the dangerous activities at teen parties.

Katherine Kasmir, program director, said they have found from two years of research involving more than 1,000 high school and college students that more teens than ever before are drinking alcohol and at higher, more dangerous levels.

"It's all about the alcohol, getting as drunk as you can as fast as you can," Kasmir said. "We need to change the culture not just among the kids; we need to change the culture among parents."

Some parents, for instance, think that because they got drunk as teenagers it's an acceptable rite of passage, Kasmir said.

She and other panel experts said the best way to deter underage drinking is for parents to be active participants in their children's lives; ask teens questions and check up on the accuracy of their answers.

(For more on the steps parents can take to help prevent underage alcohol drinking, please see inset article.)

And the experts cautioned parents not to think that only troubled teens do these kinds of things or that they occur on rare occasions. Average and even honor students are often involved in binge drinking, they said.

And sexual escapades, what teens euphemistically call "hooking up with random drunk people," are common teen party activities and may fit the legal definition of sexual assault.

Ryan Wright is a senior deputy district attorney and member of a county response team that interviews victims of sexual assault.

He said that so far this year he's interviewed a dozen or more young women and girls who say they were sexually assaulted while intoxicated at a house party.

"If these are the numbers being reported there's got to be dozens more not being reported," Wright said. "I can't even speculate on the number that goes unreported."

Teen parties can take a violent turn when word spreads through text messages and cell phones and uninvited people show up. Wright tells of a case a couple of years ago where a white supremacist gang member who had crashed a small party in Ventura was told to leave. He returned with fellow gang members, and they broke into the house and severely beat some of the residents, even though the party had shut down by that time.

And just three weeks ago, a 17-year-old boy was severely beaten by three men at a Thousand Oaks house party where alcohol was being served. A 16yearold girl at the party told police her parents didn't know she was there, Wright said.

For parents who allow teens to drink alcohol at home but think they've prevented serious problems from occuring by taking away the car keys, Wright said they're mistaken.

It is illegal for minors to have any amount of alcohol in their system. And depending on the outcome of the minor drinking alcohol, the adults who are involved could face costly legal problems that range from a ticket, jail time and civil liability to felony charges if someone is killed.

Wright said he's successfully prosecuted cases involving stabbings or shootings that were a direct result of alcohol being served at teen parties.

Every city in Ventura County has an ordinance on the books that penalize adults and/or teens involved in underage drinking. In Camarillo, for instance, the social host ordinance allows police to cite a party host, homeowner and/or teenager a civil fine of $500 for the first visit up to $2,500 for a third visit to the same home within a year.

And the sexual activities that go on at parties can have serious and longlasting health consequences. Public health nurse Kim Kandarian told the audience that sexually transmitted diseases, another byproduct of underage drinking, are on the rise in Ventura County.

Kandarian cited figures reported in 2005 for people age 15 to 24:

•1,011 cases of chlamydia, the most prevalent communicable disease and most common STD •116 cases of gonorrhea •15 hepatitis B cases •Eight cases of syphilis •Eight cases of HIV

•Seven AIDS cases

A rise in sexually transmitted diseases means an inevitable increase in the number of HIV cases as well, Kandarian said.

She added that these are only the reported and diagnosed cases- it's nearly impossible to know the actual number of STD cases. That's because many diseases, chlamydia for example, aren't detected right away, particularly in females, and often go unreported and undiagnosed, at least for some time.

Youth and community groups interested in hosting a panel discussion about underage drinking and other dangerous activities that often occur at teen parties can call Katherine Kasmir of Straight Up Ventura County at (805) 647-4622.

Jonathan Carlander, a senior at Adolfo Camarillo High School and indepth editor of the school newspaper, The Stinger, contributed to this article.

Ventura County legal experts, law enforcement and advocates to eliminate underage drinking suggest that all parents take the following steps to prevent their teen from drinking alcohol:

•Be a good role model

•Do not allow or provide alcohol to underage teenagers, including your own

•Resist the urge to be your child's friend; administer discipline when warranted

•Be an active participant in your child's life: get to know their friends and their friends' parents

•When going out of town, lock up or remove all alcoholic beverages from the house

•Talk with parents having a party in their home to find out if an adult will be present to monitor the activities

•Check to see if your child has a Myspace page and read it

- Michelle Knight