[ back ]
Councilman pushes for drinking law reform
(by Sali McSherry - November 12, 2009)
Councilman pushes for drinking law reform
By SALI McSHERRY
An amendment to Ohio's social host law was introduced in the state legislature and will be assigned to a committee by next week, Moreland Hills attorney and Councilman Stephen Richman said.
The amendment would change the criminal liability of the statute that now would hold adults, other than parents or legal guardians, accountable in cases where they should have known that underage alcohol consumption was occurring or recklessly allowed it to happen, he said. Mr. Richman, who is a volunteer juvenile magistrate, said he has seen his share of tragedy as a result of underage drinking.
The bill was developed by the Coalition to Amend Ohio's Social Host Law, and "is calling for a tougher standard of culpability," said Mr. Richman, who co-chairs the organization with Samuel M. Landry. House Bill 351 is sponsored by state Rep. Linda Bolon, D-Columbiana, and co-sponsored by state Reps. Sandra Williams, D-Columbus, Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, and Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green.
Mr. Richman said the next step is to lobby other state legislators to support the bill. The legislative service committee accepted the language he proposed for the amendment verbatim.
He said he has been asked by parents why the children were cited but the adults, who were at the home when the underage drinking occurred, were not cited. The law says that it is illegal to knowingly allow minors to consume or possess alcohol. But too many parents are "conveniently unaware" of the underage drinking in their homes by being asleep in another room or by not being home at all, Mr. Richman said.
The problem occurs because some parents believe that drinking is a rite of passage, he said. "How many deaths does it take until we know that too many young people have died? The answer is not blowing in the wind. The answer is a tougher standard for a social host's criminal liability in Ohio," he said.
More than 40 percent of the nation's estimated 10.8 million underage current drinkers were provided free alcohol by adults, according to a 2008 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The coalition also cited research about the dangers of underage drinking: youth who begin drinking before age 16 are four times more likely to become dependent on alcohol than those who wait until 21; and underage drinking is a factor in nearly half of all teenage vehicle crashes, 60 percent of all suicides and two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes, Mr. Richman said.
And, according to a Case Western Reserve University Center for Adolescent Health report on area school districts, including Chagrin Falls, Orange and Solon, 45 percent of the teenagers who were surveyed said they had consumed alcohol within the previous 30 days.
Under current Ohio law, law enforcement and prosecutors must prove that an adult other than a parent or legal guardian provided alcohol to underage drinkers, or "knowingly" allowed drinking on the premises, which is difficult to prove, Mr. Richman said.
According to the coalition, too many hosts claim to be conveniently unaware of underage drinking on their premises, and if they do not knowingly permit, or know of and allow to continue, such drinking, they have not violated the statute, Mr. Richman said.
Amending Ohio's law to change the culpability standard would provide law enforcement with an avenue by which to charge adults, "but most importantly, it should help deter more adults from engaging in illegal hosting behavior in the first place," he said.
In Wisconsin, for example, an adult who "knowingly permits or fails to take action to prevent" the illegal consumption of alcohol by underage people on the property owned by the adult or under the adult's control can face up to $500 in fines and 30 days in jail.
The Coalition to Amend Ohio's Social Host Law was co-founded in 2008 by the Juvenile Justice Committee of Bellefaire Social Advocates for Youth Coalition and the Coalition for Capable and Healthy Youth, a standing committee of the Mahoning County Family and Children First Council.
Ohio's Drug Free Action Alliance and other organizations make up the coalition's steering committee. The coalition has been building support statewide among law-enforcement agencies, social-service organizations, bar associations, legislators, mayors, council members and township trustees to reduce underage drinking and protect youth.
[ back ]
