Underage Drinking Ordinance Will Have Adults Responsible For Underage Drinking, Ordinance Has ‘Strong Chance Of Passing', Says Port Arthur Mayor

Minor teenagers in Southeast Texas were reported dead due to underage drinking. Now, the Southeast Texas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (SETCADA), a nonprofit org that provides treatment and education services to people distressed with alcohol issues and their families, wants to curb the trend by presenting a social hosting responsibility ordinance. And the ordinance has a 'high chance of passing,' says the mayor of Port Arthur, Texas.

Ales Flood and Harriet Mitchell together with the Southeast Texas Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse (SETCADA) submitted a planned social hosting liability ordinance during the meeting of Port Arthur City Council last Nov. 29. The goal of the law is to hold adults or parents liable for providing alcohol to underage teens and throw parties in their house and not supervise those house parties.

In the current survey conducted by SETCADA, among 1,173 high school students from Port Arthur, 511 students said that minor drinking was a "severe" issue, 360 claimed that it was a "mild" issue and 164 claimed it was not a serious problem. Only 138 students said underage drinking wasn't a problem at all while 70 percent of teenagers reported drinking in parties thrown by the parents of their friends.

 "We find that kids are getting alcohol at parties," the Stop Teen Drinking Austin quoted Ales Flood, the coordinator SETCADA, as saying. "Even parties where parents drop their kids off and they think an adult is supervising them," she added.

Under the city ordinance, adults liable for giving a place where minor drinking happens can be summoned by the authorities. Mitchell said the goal of the law is to hold adults responsible for providing alcohol to underage teens and allow parties to go on in their house and not supervising those house parties.

Most members of Port Arthur Council seemed to like and support the ordinance while others are still looking into some matters before supporting it. However, Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman, according to Beaumont Enterprise, said that the ordinance has a "high chance of passing." The voting of the "passing" of the law will start next year.