League of Women Voters Forum Highlights Growing Concern Over Underage Drinking

Voicing strong alarm over escalating substance abuse among local youths, Norwood municipal officials, school administrators, and law enforcement leaders united at a League of Women Voters forum to call for returning the state’s minimum legal drinking age to 21.

Police Chief James F. Curran reported that alcohol abuse has become a pervasive issue among young people, noting starkly that “a majority of the six auto fatalities in Norwood last year were alcohol related” and that vandalism is frequently fueled by drinking. Chief Curran estimated that 95 percent of high school students are involved with alcohol, describing it as “the thing to do.”

High school student Phillip Taube corroborated the sentiment, explaining that underage students routinely congregate outside package stores on weekends waiting for 18-year-olds to purchase liquor for them. However, student representative George Connolly argued that many youths acquire alcohol independently, adding that the primary obstacle is 18-year-olds purchasing alcohol for younger 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds.

State Representative Gregory W. Sullivan (D-Norwood) expressed support for raising the drinking age back to 21, explaining that a previous legislative push had failed because a 19-year-old limit appeared more politically viable and helped separate older high school seniors from younger underclassmen.

Proposed Public Drinking Bylaw and Perspectives on Root Causes

To combat public consumption, Chief Curran and town officials introduced a stringent article for the upcoming November 17 special town meeting. The proposed bylaw would authorize police to arrest youthful alcohol offenders and confiscate beverages as evidence—powers Chief Curran argued are vital since current laws treat public drunkenness as a health issue rather than an offense, leaving officers unable to intervene when 14-year-olds stagger intoxicated through the streets.

Panelists explored the underlying causes and societal pressures contributing to teenage drinking:

• Junior High North Principal James Savage warned that the problem is migrating to younger age groups, noting that alcohol use is considerable even below the seventh grade. He stressed that parental apathy is a primary driver: “We’d better start educating the parents because the junior high age is the most critical period… How parents can let their kids walk in the house stone drunk and walk right by them into bed is beyond my comprehension.”
• Town Youth Coordinator Maureen Kenney observed that teenagers drink to alleviate anxiety, peer pressure, and insecurity, seeking to “anaesthetize themselves against their problems and pain.”
• Norwood High Principal John Monbouquette noted that schools are increasingly inundated with societal challenges, broken homes, and family hardships carried directly into classrooms.
• Dr. John Kelly, an official in local alcohol education and rehabilitation programs, emphasized that alcoholism remains the nation’s premier drug problem among both adults and youth, driven by anxiety, depression, guilt, and despair.

Despite the widespread prevalence of abuse, educators and officials stressed that the vast majority of local students remain unaffected, with Chief Curran emphasizing that “99.9 percent of the kids in Norwood are not to blame. There’s always a few clunkers.”

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger