Youth


Host a safe and alcohol-free party
  • Send invitations: However you send them – electronically or in old-school paper envelopes – make it clear your party is alcohol and drug free.
  • Make sure only invited guests attend: This policy helps keep the party from growing out of control. Ask a responsible friend, parent or neighbor to greet guests at the door. This discourages “gate-crashers” and, if any teens do arrive drunk, arrangements can be made for them to get home safely.
  • Provide a variety of food and non-alcoholic drinks: You don’t have to spend a lot, but remember that a great menu helps make for a great party.
  • Consider renting a space: Check out a public place in your community where you can have a party, preferably a venue where alcohol is prohibited. That will help keep things safe and sober and offer you and your friends some fun activities.
  • Establish rules: For example, don’t allow people to come and go from the party. If they leave, make it clear they won’t be allowed back in.
Refusal skills and resisting negative peer pressure

Picture this: You’re asked to hang out at a friend’s house after the prom. When you show up, lots of people are there and some are drinking. But you’re sober and you want to stay that way. Here are a few tips to navigate this situation and stay safe:

  • Come up with phrases to resist offers of alcohol and other drugs that you feel comfortable saying. Sometimes what works is a simple “no” or “no, I’m cool, thanks.” Ask for pop or water instead. Or mention the consequences. If you’re involved in sports or other extra-curricular activities, consider “I’d get kicked off the team (or out of the club).”
  • Suggest an alternate activity, such as bowling or paintball. Or, consider attending your school’s post-prom party if it is hosting one.
  • Before prom night, arrange to text a parent, a family friend or relative for a ride to remove yourself from a risky situation.

Obviously, it’s best to avoid risky situations altogether. So before you are asked to do something or go somewhere, find out as many details as you can about what’s planned. The more information you have up front, the better prepared you’ll be to steer clear of a situation that could put you in harm’s way and to resist negative peer pressure.

Tips for keeping friends who have had alcohol from driving

If you find yourself in a position of trying to prevent someone from driving after they have been drinking, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration offers the following tips:

  • If it is a close friend, try and use a soft, calm approach at first. Suggest that they’ve had too much to drink and it would be better if someone else drove or if they took a cab.
  • Be calm. Joke about it. Make light of it.
  • Try to make it sound like you are doing them a favor.
  • If it is somebody you don’t know well, speak to their friends and have them make an attempt to persuade the person to hand over their car keys. Usually they will listen.
  • If it’s a good friend, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, tell them that if they insist on driving, you are not going with them. Suggest that you will call someone else for a ride, take a cab or walk.
  • Locate their keys while they are preoccupied and take them away. Most likely, they will think they’ve lost them and will be forced to find another mode of transportation.
    If possible, avoid embarrassing the person or being confrontational. This makes them appear vulnerable to alcohol and its effects.

If all else fails, call the police. The police can be much more persuasive and they would rather prevent a drunk person from getting behind the wheel than to respond to the scene of an alcohol-related crash.

If the situation becomes heated and feelings are hurt, remember that, once reasoning returns after the person sobers up, it will probably all be quickly forgotten. Remember also that a temporary loss of friendship is preferable to the permanent loss of a friend through a drunk-driving crash.

- Courtesy of the National Safety Commission

Click here for more information about drinking and driving and prom.

Did you know?

You’re in the majority if you don’t drink.  The fact is, about 60 percent of Oregon 11th graders have not had alcohol in the past 30 days.