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Don't Give Teens Alcohol -- Period!
By Barbara Cooke
Courtney Michna, 18, a high school senior, says, "Some kids don't want to drink. They want an out and their parents provide a good excuse If kids say 'Want some?' and they say, 'No, my parents will kill me,' most kids say, 'OK, that's cool, there's more for me!' But if parents are saying 'Go ahead, it's perfectly fine to drink,' then what out do they have?"
Making it safe for kids to drink is a contradiction of terms, according to Shepherd Smith, president of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Youth Development. "We have laws regulating use by age because of the lack of physical maturity and psychological maturity. We've learned that people under the age of 21 have dramatically impaired judgement."
Jerry Elsner, executive director of the Illinois State Crime Commission asserts, "Adolescent males get a few drinks in them and soon they drop every barrier to civilized behavior. The more drinks they consume, the quicker they degenerate into base instincts. When you provide the beer, and those hormones are running wild, you have only yourself to blame!"
Louis Kraus, division head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill., recalls parents defending their actions with, "'They're going to college in a few months and they'll do what they want and I can't stop them, so why should I try now?' They forget that 70 to 80 percent of first time sexual encounters occur when kids are under the influence. hey're also less likely to use a condom, because their decision making is totally impaired. Just one night and they can carry away an infection that lasts a lifetime."
