Is it really safer?

  Many people question whether it is safer to allow teens to drink under adult supervision.  For those who do this in their own home with their own teenage child --personally I don’t agree with it-- but as long as you don’t let them out drunk, it is your business. It becomes other citizen’s concern, when you allow kids that are not your own to consume alcohol behind the closed doors of your home or on your property.

  I’ve heard well-meaning people say things like: You can’t stop them from drinking, so I will take responsibility and collect everyone’s keys when they get here. I will park my recliner by the front door and stay up all night with a good book.

  Aside from the fact that you’re breaking the law if you provide alcohol and you’re giving teens the impression that it is safe and acceptable to use alcohol at their age, it sounds reasonable...or does it?

  Before you set out to become the coolest parent in your hometown, you should know that teens in social gatherings tend to binge drink and get drunk so you might want to consider a few of the negative variables that could take place before you surrender to this flawed line of thinking.

• What if you doze off momentarily and someone slips past your watchful eyes?
• What if they slip out through an alternate door or window?
• What if they overpower you and take their keys and get on the road and kill themselves or someone else?
• What if they’ve taken medication prescribed for them or over the counter pain relievers before they arrived that don’t mix with alcohol?
• What if someone starts a fight and seriously injures or kills someone?
• What if they sexually assault someone while you’re parked by the front door and unable to hear due to the loud music?
• What if they get drunk and pop some pills someone brought with them or they find in your medicine cabinet?
• What if a couple of guests send a text to their friends, who send a text to their friends and suddenly your party of 20 becomes 200?
• What if they don’t know when to stop and overdose in your home?

  Are you prepared to deal with the answers to these questions?

 

  My son died in a house where adults were present. 

  Is it really safer? 

Who decides?

  Imagine your teen goes to a gathering at a friend’s house to play video games ... watch TV ... stay the night ... attend a birthday party or just hang out.  Now imagine you find out that the adults present in this home allowed your teen to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana. They didn’t necessarily provide the alcohol and/or drugs; they just turned their heads and did nothing to stop it.

They didn’t call you.

They didn’t pour it out or take it away. 

They didn’t tell your teen or any of the teens present at their home that it is not alright for them to party in their home because they are underage.  

  Are you comfortable with another adult making the decision for you that it is okay for your teen to party?

  What if the adults present in this home knowingly allow your teen to get wasted when they stay the night and you never know about it? What if your teen repeatedly goes to this house to party without your knowledge and develops an addiction? What if your teen gets drunk or high at this house, then gets in their vehicle to drive home and has a wreck and kills another person, a family or themselves?   What if your teen goes to this home to party and overdoses and dies?

   Does another adult have the right to make the decision that it is safer for your child to party at their house, under adult supervision, than you?

  Tell your legislators that social hosting in not acceptable in our state.  Ask them to support the legislation that is currently before them, HB 1211 - Cody's Law, which will eliminate the loopholes and strengthen our state’s current social host law.

 

  Tell them it is YOUR decision!

  Follow Cody's Law at www.facebook.com/cody.greenhaw and like this page if you agree that social hosting needs to stop in Oklahoma. Share this link with other concerned parents and community members.

Contact Legislators

  Now is the the time to act. There are two bills that have been introduced in the state legislature this session that would greatly strengthen our state's social host law, HB 1211 by Rep. Dan Kirby and SB 859 by Sen. Jim Halligan.  Copies of both bills, as introduced, can be found in the tabs on the left along with the reasons I believe strengthening our law will protect our families from a very dangerous practice and save lives.
  Please phone or email your state legislators and give them a simple message: It's time to stop social hosting in Oklahoma. Please support legislation that will strengthen our state law HB 1211 and SB 859. If you do not know who your state legislators are, click http://www.capitolconnect.com/oklahoma/ enter your address information and click submit.
  HB 1211 has been assigned to the House Judiciary committee, chaired by Rep. Fred Jordan, (R) District 69. The bill must be heard in the Judiciary committee which meets on Mondays at 4:30. The deadline for reporting House bills from House committees is Thursday, March 3, which leaves only one meeting in which the bill can be heard and passed. Please call Chairman Jordan at (405) 557-7331 and/or email Chairman Fred Jordan to let him know you want our state's social host law strengthened by hearing and passing HB 1211.  It would also be helpful to contact Speaker of the House Kris Steele at (405) 557-7345 and/or email Speaker Kris Steele to let him know you support strengthening our social host law and ask him to ensure that HB 1211 is heard in the Judiciary.
  Members of the House Judiciary Committee are: Vice Chair Colby Schwartz, Rep. Gus Blackwell; Rep. Marian Cooksey; Rep. Randy Grau; Rep. Scott Inman; Rep. Dan Kirby; Rep. Mark McCullough; Rep. Richard Morrissette; Rep. Leslie Osborn; Rep. Ben Sherrer; Rep. Aaron Stiles; Rep. Daniel Sullivan; Rep. Sue Tibbs; Rep. Emily  Virgin; Rep. Paul Wesselhoft; and Rep. Cory T. Williams. Additional contact information for these members can be found at:  http://www.okhouse.gov/Members/Default.aspx. 
   SB 859 passed the Senate Public Safety committee and has been referred to Appropriations.  I will let you know when it goes to the House, and to which committee it is assigned.