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Massachusetts
Teen Drug and Alcohol Abuse Facts
A School's Homecoming Event that Turned
Tragic
Teens make mistakes and sometimes they are paying the ultimate
price for their mistakes.
A 17-year-old Plainville, Massachusetts high school senior
drowned in Norfolk’s swamp after wandering off alone
after a night of binge drinking with her friends on Oct. 17,
2008. The incident occurred after the teen attended two parties
and a gathering at Norfolk’s abandoned airport, where
about two dozen teenagers lit a bonfire and drank beer and
vodka shots.
Authorities found that the teen had a blood-alcohol level
of 0.13. For drivers in Massachusetts who are under age 21,
a level of 0.02 is considered above the legal limit.
Meyer, the teen’s mother has told reporters in a press
conference: “I want future kids sitting in their living
rooms today to say: ‘You know what? I am not going to
do that. I am not going to drink, and I am not going to host
a party.’ ’’ The Boston Globe reports that
the mother’s hopes are to convince teenagers and their
parents that underage drinking is not a socially acceptable
rite of passage. Instead, she added, they should view it as
something to avoid entirely, because the potential for someone
to die is very real.
The Boston Globe reports that Meyer recently got an e-mail
from a Walpole mother who said her 15-year-old son nearly
died when he became so drunk his friends could not keep him
awake. Police rushed the boy to a hospital, where he recovered,
she said.
Meyer urges parents to be vigilant. She says: “There
are things I wish I did differently with her,’’
she said. “You assume, and you can’t do that as
a parent. It’s OK to make that phone call.’’
Be a Parent, not a Pal.
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