quick clicks

preteenagers today articles

preteenagers today q&a

teenagers today articles

teenagers today q&a

community & groups

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Underage Drinking in a
Modern World

Is Your Teen Able to
Buy Alcohol Online?

By Kathreen Francis

Are parents worried? "I'm far more worried about older friends and household liquor cabinets than I am about the likelihood of an internet purchase," says Simone Strong of Ypsilanti, Mich.

Are all teenagers tempted? One 17-year-old from Lansing, Mich., is not. "If I wanted the alcohol, I wouldn't bother to order online," he says. "There are easier, cheaper ways to get it. Nobody I know would waste the time."

Do these statements downplay the seriousness of this online crime, or do they merely reflect the internet's natural limitations as a significant risk to minors? Clearly, we cannot underestimate the sophistication and motivation of some teens to buy alcohol. Barb Meyers of Lansing, Mich., a mom of three, worries that until adults recognize the potential dangers of the internet, the trend will continue. "I'm concerned that society is not paying attention to an impending disaster," she says. "Even watchful parents are undermined by a society that does not take these survey results seriously." Parents will fight an uphill battle until retailers, policymakers and law enforcement become determined to fix this broken system.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has revealed that in 2001, an analysis showed that, "a minimum of $22.5 billion (17.5 percent) of (total) consumer expenditures for alcohol came from underage drinking." There is big money in illegal alcohol purchases. The supposed age verification safeguards on alcohol retailers' Web sites (check-offs mostly) are easily cheated and the delivery system appears to be regularly faulty. There is no meaningful state oversight. It is na in the extreme to believe the current system of checks and balances will help us. It is solely up to us to monitor our teen's internet purchasing habits and assume that the lure of alcohol might be too great to resist and too easy to achieve.