The aim of “environmental strategies” in substance abuse prevention is to create an environment that prevents substance abuse. One strategy is to reduce access and availability to young people, who, studies show, increasingly drink to get drunk. Most of those underage drinkers access alcohol mainly at their own homes or the homes of their friends. Morgan Hill student responses to the California Healthy Kids Survey, taken every two years, show Morgan Hill students report lifetime use (asked “have you ever…?”), binge drinking (five or more drinks), and being drunk or high on campus at higher rates than the state averages. Adding to these discouraging statistics are the responses routinely heard from parents: “yes, they’re drinking. It’s better that they drink here at home where they have supervision.”
As we have worked on this issue in Morgan Hill, we have heard several valid concerns:
n Why penalize parents who are not present?
n Why penalize landlords?
n Will this, in practice, become a poor man’s tax, which rich people can get out of, but low income people cannot?
Parents not present: The ordinances state that if a parent is not present, the underage host of the party is cited and given community service and the parents are notified. Personally, I’d like to see absent parents given community service, too. However, despite my personal preferences, such a penalty would actually be applied to repeat offenders, where police are called to respond to such parties more than once, and the parents have left without making any arrangements to prevent such activities. If our dog gets out while we’re not home, we’re liable for the damage he can inflict. Why are we not held accountable when our children throw parties where alcohol is consumed by underage drinkers?
Penalizing landlords: The framers of the example ordinances from Ventura and Marin counties included this for those properties that become a repeat problem. Again, the emphasis is on the adult host, and in rental situations, that is most likely the tenant. The term landlords was included to be effective against motels/hotels that routinely rent to underage students and wouldn’t call the police when underage drinking is occurring, but a police response to a complainant other than the motel/hotel management discovers underage drinking, and it’s clear the management knew about it. In Morgan Hill, the police chief says this is a problem with certain establishments. If a motel, in good faith, is renting a room to a person of legal age to rent (often the parents), but then reports a party with underage drinking, the responsible person is the host of the party.
In long-term rental properties, the intent is to hold the host accountable. However, my experiences working to eliminate crack houses from downtown San Jose neighborhoods in the late ’80s early 90’s revealed that there are problem landlords – most often absentees who live in Monte Sereno to Menlo Park – who, as long as they’re receiving rent, don’t care what kind of impact the tenant has on the community we live in. In the absence of their action to curb a bad tenant, nuisance abatement laws can be brought into play. However, this ordinance could be used as well.
Disproportionately penalizing poor people? The South County Collaborative, made up of organizations who serve the area’s most needy and vulnerable residents, is the last organization that would support something that, in policy or practice, disproportionately penalizes poor people. If someone cannot pay the fines, community service options can be used. However, I do not know of a single jurisdiction in this county that would not give a ticket and a fine to someone caught breaking the speed limit, regardless of income. This should be treated similarly.
But I caution against making assumptions that this does not concern you if you are not in gangs or not poor. This is a problem blind to neighborhood, income and ethnicity. Our experience is that this happens more in homes with people who don’t have such challenges; it’s a matter of parents who believe their kids’ assurances they won’t drink, or are unable to say no to those who are not of legal age to drink. In all cases, we expect to provide a list of supportive resources people can access to help them put in check a disaster just waiting to happen if such actions continue.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues in Santa Clara County. Her column is published every Friday. Reach her at
dc******@ch*****.net
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