On Booze

Today was a bit somber at work- a lot of kids went to the funeral of Andrew Anderson, a student at West High School who died of alcohol poisoning over the weekend out at Land of Memories park. I'm a security guard at West, part time- at least until summer vacation unemploys me tomorrow afternoon, and Andrew was one of the many faces I saw in the hallway- I never really got to know him as well as I know other students, but all in all, he was never trouble and never really got in my way. By and large- a good kid, which only underlines the tragedy of his death and what Mankato finds itself grappling with yet again.

Over the course of the past year or so, we've seen a rash of alcohol related deaths. A student died after celebrating her 21st birthday, another fell out of a window and a third was killed when she was hit by a car. The common denominator in all these deaths was alcohol.

This naturally left community leaders wanting to do something- first, they passed an ordinance banning drink specials such as cup nights. This, to me proved to be effectively useless. College students are going to drink no matter what- and all banning cup specials does, at least to my mind, is drive prices up and keep students away from bars in a downtown that, to be frank, doesn't have a lot going for it in the way of business other than bars.

The second thing they did was to pass a social host law in an attempt to control house parties. Basically, the law would hold owners/hosts of parties liable for underage drinking in their house/apartment. Again, to me this felt like a rash attempt to be seen as doing something. A social host law maybe smart in that it actually attempts to hold providers of alcohol liable for underage drinking, but at the same time, how enforceable is it? I'd like to think that the Mankato Police Department has better things to do- but apparently not. To me a social host law is a tool that law enforcement can use to penalize the right people, if the circumstances allow. That may be all well and good, but at the end of the day, does it address the problem of binge drinking? Not really.

Then of course, the decided to hold a 'Summit' on High-Risk drinking. People got in a room and talked and kind of missed the underlying point. When it comes to binge drinking, change has to begin at home. Responsible drinking habits start at home with Mom and Dad in my mind. My parents came from Europe and so, as kids we were permitted once we hit 16 or so, in certain tightly controlled circumstances to have a little wine. Usually at holidays. And we got no sympathy whatsoever when we were silly enough to have our first hangover.

I'd like to say that worked, but really, I have had my share of crazy nights and bad drinking habits- but I think if it did anything, I think it made me more aware that I had to find and hold myself to some limits. Used to drink tequila straight. One bad hangover later and I don't do that anymore. Same thing with Jaeger, which tasted really bad coming back up and so on and so forth. You learn and you figure things out- the question is, how aware of your limits are you?

The problem with this belief in parental teaching of responsible drinking is that parenting tips are pretty much useless. What works for one kid may not work for another. But at the end of the day, parents have to decide to push responsible drinking habits if binge drinking is to be really tackled. Governments of all levels can pass all the laws they want, but laws will only be seen as effective until the next tragedy inevitably has to happen.

Change has to start at home.