*Between 2002 and 2007,  more than 3,000 Massachusetts residents died of opiate-related overdoses...
*In 2005, 21.8 percent of the total state budget was spent on substance abuse and addiction related programs.1 This funding represents a broken system...

Addiction is a medical disorder, and we have a public health epidemic on our hands that is larger than the flu pandemic...(H)owever, because of the stigma surrounding substance abuse the opiate epidemic is left in the shadows and little light has been put upon reforming the policies involving substance abuse in the Commonwealth.

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Keep reading for some important facts your parents should know about underage drinking:
  

The legal drinking age in Massachusetts is 21. It is against the law to serve or provide alcohol to underage guests or to allow them to drink alcohol in your home or on other property you control. If you do, you may be prosecuted criminally. The penalty is a fine up to $2,000, imprisonment for up to a year, or both. (G.L. c.138, sec. 34.)

You may also be sued civilly. If you are sued civilly, a jury may decide whether you are liable and how much you will have to pay for injuries caused by your guests.

You could be prosecuted criminally or sued civilly if you knowingly allow a person under 21 to drink at your home, and he becomes very ill or dies from alcohol poisoning or other injuries.

• You could be civilly liable if you give permission for your underage child to drink in someone else’s home and he injures or kills a third party.
• You could be civilly liable if your child has a few friends over when you are not at home, it develops into a drinking party, and a party goer injures himself when fleeing after the police arrive.
• Even if you win a criminal or civil lawsuit, it is an expensive process. Lawsuits can take years to conclude. They put a tremendous amount of strain on you and your family.

The question remains, “Are parents taking underage drinking too lightly?  Or are parents so clueless that they are truly unaware of what their children are doing?” Many parents state they would not give teenagers alcohol. In fact, 99 percent of parents recently surveyed by Columbia University’s National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), say they are not willing to serve alcohol at their teen’s parties.

But the same survey found that 28 percent of adolescents have been to parties at a home where parents were present and teens were drinking. The CASA study also underlines the difference between parents’ perceptions and the reality of what really goes on at teenage parties.  The Columbia University study found that 80 percent of parents believe that alcohol is not available at parties their teens attend. Yet, 50 percent of teenagers report attending parties where alcohol, drugs or both are available.