Today's teen party scene is perilous

In my youth, people used word of mouth to spread the news of clandestine gatherings of teenagers. These gatherings were underage drinking parties. Some parents didn't suspect a thing. Others would wink and nod at this behavior, some of them having done the same thing as teens. Still others, incredibly, would buy the alcohol themselves, rationalizing that their children were going to go out and get drunk anyway, so they might as well do it in their own back yards.

In Colorado, where I grew up, the legal drinking age (then) was 18 for low-alcohol beer or malted beverages and 21 for spirits. My hometown was close to the Wyoming border, where 19-year-olds could buy hard liquor. Many of my friends' older siblings patronized the state-line liquor store.

On occasion, the easy access to alcohol and permissive attitudes resulted in deaths — drunken driving accidents that killed our classmates and friends. It was senseless.

We mourned and buried our dead, but there was no uproar to change the laws. These young lives were collateral damage of a broken social policy that made alcohol available to teenagers, which is problematic on many levels. Little did youthful drinkers know that it also hampered their brain development. Some people chalked up these experiences to rights of passage. Some people still do. And they shouldn't.

Today's teen party scene deserves more parental attention than a wink or nod. Many of these gatherings aren't the keggers of yore, which had their own perils. Parents owe it to their kids and themselves to learn about raves, in particular.

In recent weeks, a rave party just over the Nevada border near Wendover attracted nearly 3,000 people. At least one 15-year-old girl overdosed on Ecstasy at the party, which was held on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Organizers had no permits, security, restrooms or medical facilities. Talk about a recipe for disaster.

As I said, this is a new generation of teen parties. The numbers of people are completely unmanageable. While some say they attend raves for the music, the dancing and atmosphere of peace and love, make no mistake — drugs and alcohol are part of the equation. This is not the stuff of good, clean fun.

Some rave-friend Web sites decry the stereotypes of ravers. No, we shouldn't paint with a broad brush. Nor should we, as parents, be naive about what happens at these parties. Club drugs are available. Some rave Web sites go so far as to recommend that partiers not drink anything given to them. Sounds like a red flag, doesn't it?