More on Purim Drinking

The LA Times ran an article this weekend over the rampant underage drinking that occurs every year around Purim time:

Purim, a holiday celebrating the foiling of a plot to kill the Jews of ancient Persia, is often used by many — including the underaged — as an excuse to get drunk.

The festival, which starts today at sundown, is observed with costumes, storytelling and boisterous behavior. But growing concern about excessive drinking on Purim is prompting some Jewish leaders and groups to call for moderation or to suggest that celebrants forgo alcohol entirely.

An incident last year, in which an Orthodox Jewish high school student in Los Angeles went to an emergency room after drinking too much during another religious holiday, triggered debate and reflection about alcohol abuse in the Jewish community.

"We're recognizing that with many of the teens who end up with a substance abuse problem, it was on Purim they got their start," said Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky of B'nai David-Judea, an Orthodox congregation in West Los Angeles.

The article suggests a crackdown of sorts on underage imbibing in the LA area this year. I would love to know how well that worked out. I heard much talk of a similar "crackdown" on the part of local yeshivas and Shuls in the wake of some incidents of irresponsible underage drinking last Purim. As a matter of fact, I received a letter in the mail from the administration of a Yeshiva whose students often come each Purim to collect in local homes, requesting that their Purim donors not serve alcohol to the students who come collecting. That's all very nice, and I guess making the request not to get the minors sloshed must be some sort of new and exciting trend, but how much clarity have we lost when the head of a Yeshiva has to send out a letter politely requesting ostensibly mature and responsible adults not to illegally serve minors alcohol - and that said letter is considered somehow groundbreaking?

I have no idea if this supposed crackdown cut down appreciably on underage drinking. I certainly saw my fair share of slobbering drunk teens while delivering Mishloach Manot around the neighborhood. Reports from your neighborhoods, readers? Anyone think that the drinking was less widespread? More? Did all this raising of awareness about the problem that we saw in the weeks leading up to Purim help at all? I'd love to hear from readers on this.