In Denmark we have no lower limit for alcohol consumption and a 16 year limit for alcohol purchase. Our youth has to go to the city hall once they turn 16 in order to obtain an ID-card, which confirms the age in shops. We are talking of access to al kind of alcohol, not only beer and wine.

Why do we have such laws? Because we wanted to lower the number of DUI conviction and not least the number of people killed on our roads. Our strategy is an success if you count 73 people killed due to alcohol related accidents during the entire year of 2006 an success and we are talking of a population of 5,000,000 people.

When does the Danish teens start to drink? According to a study about 20 percent of teens under 15 have been drunk several times before sobering up when they find out what good things in life they miss because they are unable to attend the activities because they are too drunk. In the summer groups of teens aged down to 12 are seen drinking in groups at parks and beaches always with a concerned parent in somewhat distance. Please notice. They are drinking with parental approval because if the parents buy, they can adjust the amount and they can address problems more freely because the teenagers does not have to hide their intake.

That is properly why we also avoid problems like teenage pregnancies and some of the violence. Violence does exist, but the majority of the convicted are people who can not drink due to religious reasons and therefore enjoy social interaction. They become marginalized and angry. Teenage pregnancies are so rare (The average age of a mother, who is giving birth is now late in the 20′s, which cause other problems.) that we even have TV-series about the few.

Our only problem is that we are aware of is the pub-crawling journeys, who are sold all over Europe to Bulgaria. In the future we will inform our youth better, so they know that it is safer to avoid drinking and social interaction, while being on Holiday in another country. Just the last 14 days one Dane aged 17 have been killed because the drug the ice-cubes in the drinks so people are fooled to drink more than there health can take and 4 Danish women had been raped.

I think that your country should see to Europe for strategies and especially give the youth access to alcohol, which is a dangerous product. So dangerous in fact that adjusting to it is something that teenagers should use years to learn about before they can buy it on their own. We have saved 200 lives per year by learning our teenagers of the dangers. Just try to calculate how many lives you could save.

The sentence is harsh, but she should be prosecuted. She apparently lied to the other parents and provided substances which were illegal for 16 year-olds to consume. I have a very relaxed attitude towards alcohol consumption, but if I sent my kid to a party where adults were ostensibly chaperoning, I would have a different mindset than if I knew my kid was at a house party where no adults were present. If I found out later that I had been lied to about the environment I was dropping my kid into, I’d fucking sue.

Now, if they had been up front about it and I knew these people, I’d most likely let my kid go to the party.

you clean missed the part where only 9 out of 30 kids were drinking, and “all were below the legal limit for intoxication”, huh?

(ugly intolerance is usually based on ignorance)

it’s preposterous that Kelly could have laid out $340 for alcohol for 9 kids. so maybe $340 included all the food too? (in my experience, a little common sense goes a long way. not just in reading blogs, but in life too.)

On the other hand, it’s an insane sentence really, but it’s much more about puritan social attitudes than the prosecutors. They merely reflect society at large.

Parents getting 2 years in jail for PREVENTING young kids driving while intoxicated while a stuck up cow (I will not mention any names, but initials are PH) get 45 days (or was it 3 or 23..?) for actually driving while intoxicated…

The guilty ones are the judge and prosecutors – NOT the parents who acted responsibly…

Yet another example of draconian laws not fitting the crime(s)..