High School Prom May 8th

Gordon Clay here. The Oregon state legislature, in its infinite wisdom, supports under-age drinking by permitting parents to legally ply their underage children with alcohol.

A survey of more than 2,500 11th- and 12th-grade students finds that 90 percent believe that their peers are more likely to drink and drive on prom night, but few think that the behavior carries a high degree of risk, says USA Today. More than one in three students also said their parents had let them attend a party knowing that alcohol would be served.

"Newspapers, television, YouTube and Facebook are rife with tales of tragedy from reckless driving on prom and graduation nights, yet an 'it won't happen to me' attitude continues to be pervasive among our teens. Add the greater likelihood of multiple people in the car, and the crash potential is very real."

What parents of our senior high school students are doing in response to this lack of responsibility by our legistators, is something they have done for years and that is to organize a Safe and Sober party on Graduation night, which is great. However, nothing is planned for the upcoming Prom on May 5 with the exception of random breath tests. US DOT estimates that over 5,200 teens will be injured and 48 killed from car wrecks over Prom weekend.

Responsible prom planning starts with educating teens, parents and the community about the risks and putting a safety plan in place. While it may be too late to do that, you can talk to your teen about the risks.

Afterall, you could go to jail if you provide alcohol to your teen or other teens before the Prom. But that's not the worst thing that can happen. Your teen might not make it home.

Prom night should be the best night of a teens life - not the last.