Orange Community Council Submits Resolution on Social Hosting

Although the legal drinking age throughout the United States is 21, alcohol is the substance most frequently abused by minors ages 12 to 20. Research identifies adults or "social hosts" as the primary source and private homes as the primary site of alcohol availability for underage drinkers.

These and other facts were the motivation and basis for the Social Host Accountability and Underage Drinking resolution submitted to California State PTA by the Orange Community Council of PTAs. The resolution will be considered for adoption by the delegates at the upcoming state convention.

Nationwide, underage drinking is directly involved in the deaths of approximately 5,000 youth under the age of 21 every year. It is linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults, including date rape, and contributes to a 10 times higher incidence of physical assault and a 12 times higher incidence of unintentional injury. Furthermore, the 2007 Surgeon General’s Call to Action reports that alcohol use may alter an adolescent’s development and put them at higher risk for long-lasting, detrimental effects on the developing brain.

Social hosting is defined as adults in private homes providing alcohol and/or allowing underage drinking among children who are not their own. There are those who believe kids are going to drink somewhere and that social hosting provides a safer environment than underage drinkers might otherwise choose. There are others who believe that because underage drinking is both illegal and dangerous, adults should not provide alcohol nor ignore the consumption of alcohol by individuals under the minimum legal drinking age of 21.

According to the Surgeon General, addressing the public health problem of underage alcohol use begins with an examination of our own attitudes toward underage drinking and our recognition of the seriousness of its consequences for adolescents and their families, as well as society as a whole. Underage alcohol use is not a benign, acceptable rite of passage, but is a serious health and safety threat to adolescent development that cannot be ignored.

California has no state law that addresses social hosting. However, 40 of its cities and counties have passed social host ordinances. A national study found that social host liability laws reduce binge drinking, and drinking and driving.

The resolution calls for California PTA at all levels to:

• Provide factual information about the dangers of underage drinking and social hosting.
• Support the adoption of social host laws that would prohibit adults from providing alcohol or allowing the consumption of alcohol in homes and on non-commercial property by youth under the age of 21 who are not their children.
• Support law enforcement in upholding the minimum legal drinking age of 21, including but not limited to social host laws and ordinances.

Orange Community Council board members Christina Bayles, Ilene Duncan, Leisa Ensworth, Michael Foster and Kim Nichols formed the committee that worked on the resolution.