April 17, 2005

Dad Defends Teen Drinking Party

Lesley Stahl Talks To Father Who Was Arrested For Allowing Teenage Drinking At Home

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By Rebecca Leung

Play CBS Video Video Teens: Drinking At Home?
60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl reports on the controversial trend of parents allowing teens to drink - even binge drink - alcohol in their homes in efforts to prevent drunk driving.

- Lesley Stahl reports on the controversial trend of parents allowing teens to drink alcohol in their homes in efforts to prevent drunk driving. (AP)
- Bill Anderson and his wife, Pat, speak out in support of drink-and-sleepover teen parties - to prevent kids from driving drunk. (CBS)
- The Andersons allowed Gregg to invite friends over, as long as the kids procured the alcohol and everybody slept at the house. (CBS)
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(CBS) That argument, however, won't hold up in Kansas anymore. Riggs won her battle, and as of July 1, Kansas made it illegal for parents, or anyone, to allow minors to drink on their property -- whether they provide the alcohol or not.

It's called a Social Host Law, and more and more states are passing them. You might think the alcohol industry would be fighting this movement, but it’s not.

"It's a recipe for disaster to take teens and alcohol and immaturity and mix them together," says Francine Katz, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president for communications and consumer affairs.

A new ad with the company's chairman, August Busch III, tells parents it's their job to keep their kids from drinking: "At Anheuser-Busch, we’re parents too, and we don’t want teens to drink. … As parent, you have the greatest influence over your teen’s decisions. Together, we can win this fight."

But not everybody’s buying it.

"I find it hypocritical on the part of Anheuser-Busch," says Mosher. "They're very good at telling parents what to do. But, what about what they're doing? They're making the parents' job so much harder."

For instance, Anheuser-Busch has been fighting steps that Mosher says would actually reduce teen drinking, like raising taxes on beer. When cigarette taxes went up, there was a drop in teen smoking.

"The critics say that it's hypocritical for the company to be telling parents that it's their responsibility," says Stahl. "They say you're making it harder for parents to be responsible."

"Nobody is saying that this is somebody else's problem to solve," says Katz. "After all, we're parents, too."

"Well, you're beer-makers," says Stahl.

"We're beer-makers who are people," says Katz. "And I think that people understand that in the end, controlling what goes on with your child is the responsibility of the parent. It's not the public health field, it's not a beer company. It's you, with your own kids, addressing this issue as a parent."

Continued