Parents responsible too in preventing teen alcohol use

By JENNIFER KOVACS Tribune Chronicle
WARREN — You may have received a postcard in the mail about it or even a friendly reminder inside your water bill.

The hint that the Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Warren doesn’t want parents to miss this spring is that a popular good intention can easily become an illegal one — and that’s hosting a drinking party for the friends of your underage son or daughter.

So the group has launched into its prom/graduation season campaign ‘‘Parents Who Host Lose the Most,’’ working to get its message out to the public in a variety of ways, including a recent town hall meeting on the issue.

‘‘What we are trying to do is educate parents on the negative impact of underage substance abuse,’’ said ASAP director Jill Lewis.

And that negative impact not only falls on the teens who drink, but on the adults who provide them with alcohol — even if it’s done in an effort to keep your kids safe.

ASAP Chairperson Toni Blake highlighted the laws during the meeting, stressing that adults cannot give alcohol to underage teens, even in their own home and even with parental permission. Breaking that law can result in up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine.

As an answer, ASAP encourages parents to refuse to supply their teens with alcohol, create other alcohol-free activities, and pay attention to what teens are doing so that substance abuse isn’t happening behind your back right in the home.

Parents need to be careful in other ways, as well, warned one mother.

Linda Spies of Cortland never bought her son or his friends alcohol, but she said that she realized when she found him to be a drug addict at the age of 16 that she had actually helped enable him to become one.

‘‘As a parent, if I looked back, I should have known my son was on drugs,’’ she said at the meeting.

Spies now recalls her teen with a haggard appearance and later discovering the family’s prescription medications hidden in his room.

‘‘We parents need to be more educated,’’ she said.

Spies, who now runs a Families Anonymous group at the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic in Youngstown, advises parents to pay close attention to every substance in the house, whether that be dwindling cough medicine, diluted Vodka or air freshener used at an increased rate.

Spies said she hopes her group can now be an answer for those who realized some other mistakes too late.

‘‘Where do you go? There’s so much guilt,’’ she said.

The Families Anonymous group meets at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at Neil Kennedy.

jkovacs@tribune-chronicle.com